I'll get right to the nitty of this topic and what started the whole thing for me. Years ago, nearly 30, my friend Mike Waters and I sang Irish and American folk as a duo in Central New York. I like to think we were pretty OK and had a future as performers. WE did some festivals and some bar gigs, the odd coffee houses and even a small spot or two in East Durham, NY in the Catskills(AKA The Irish Alps).
   We had a chance at radio spot in Ithaca NY but the emcee of the show, still running and will remain nameless said no to us because he "Didn't like the phony accents.." Years later, Mike is driving horses in Bristol Me or Someplace, Rhode Island or maybe up in Cow Hampshire. I'm still doing the semi-trad music bit in Central NY
still not doing that radio show for the same reason. I have for awhile viewed this as folk snobbery but hells bells it's his show.
I am not doing the accents or the dialect myself. I would suck at it. I find it hard enought to be a marginally good singest let alone dialectician. The front guy in our band has what he calls an Irish Microphone. When he talks into it he sounds like Will Millar, when he talks in mine he sounds like a 60ish guy from Syracuse NY. All this micro-crap gets on my nerves but after 30 years BIll won't change and after 12 I should be over it by now. Or at least accept it as "Marketing". I guess I was asking am I being too anal or am I a Folk Snob or am I hoping for honesty in performance.

Or maybe it just doesn't matter. Thanks for all the great input and opinion.

Don