a brief taster:

(the song)was initially recorded at the behest of folklorist Alan Lomax in the heart of the Village, Middlesboro, Kentucky, in 1937 by Georgia Turner, the dirt-poor, sixteen year-old daughter of a coal miner. Lomax promptly archived it at the Library of Congress and included it in his groundbreaking 1941 songbook Our Singing Country. Before long Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, The Weavers and Josh White (in addition to Ronnie Gilbert, the New Lost City Ramblers and torch singer Libby Holman among many others) had recorded their versions of it. A little while later it became one of the influential Dave Van Ronk's signature songs--which is where a young Bob Dylan heard it and recorded it for his debut Columbia album. Now the tortured tale is ubiquitous--from karaoke bars and elevators to ring-tones and Gatorade ads.

Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song
By Ted Anthony

Charlotte (loves train travel)