Mistrel Traditions

I was curious when I saw that we would be studying the minstrel tradition of England and Scotland because I am currently studying the American minstrel tradition for my Blues class.  Unlike American minstrelsy shows, the British did not perform their ballads in blackface; however, many of their ballads such as "John Barleycorn" made just as much of a political statement.  Walter Scott talks about how the lyrics to many of these border ballads often get changed when written down because of difficult to understand dialects.  A similar problem arose with the American minstrel tradition and many lyrics to songs underwent changes as their popularity spread to different areas.