What makes a traditional singer?

In a fascinating article on the Musical Traditions website Mike Yates considers how he 'mistakenly' took the Sussex singer Bob Blake for a genuine traditional singer.

Mike Yates is probably the most experienced collector of traditional songs alive today, and clearly he has thought about this topic for a long time before publishing his thoughts. It seems that in this case the singer learned his songs almost wholly from printed sources, rather than learning them through oral tradition from his family or community. However Bob Blake seems to have been accepted by other 'traditional' singers as one of their own, and possibly it was this desire for acceptance that motivated Bob Blake in the first place. He wanted to be able to sing songs in the same way as the old timers he heard in the pubs in Sussex.

I wish more people were moved by this same simple aim; to be able to join in with other singers and to be accepted by them on equal terms. Singers like to hear each other sing, and nothing is more valuable than the respect of one's peers. Clearly Bob Blake did win such respect - and, on the basis of his few recordings, he richly deserved it.

Bob Blake didn't seek to win fame; he wanted the approval of the crowd in the pub. If somebody like Mike Yates came along and "collected" his songs that was well and good, although he was suspiciously reticent as to where he came by these same songs.

In the end it may be more a matter of how the songs are sung, and listened to, than how they are learned, that defines what is 'traditional'; communal acceptance by one's fellow singers (and audience) may be more significant than an authentic history.