the people who recorded it 72 years ago didn't write it, probably didn't pay royalties to the ones who preceded them, 84 years ago. they probably didn't compose it either, all of these people aren't even feeding the worms anymore. it still seems to me like organized crime.
   AP Carter and Roy Acuff both made a lucrative practice of ripping off material and getting legal rights to it. it stinks.
if someone's poor, or living, i can see paying them, but since all of these guys earned their sandwich money singing songs others had composed, the mafioso's desire to pull up the ladder after them rankles me. if someone's alive and poor especially i like to help protect their lunch money. "some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen."
i did write woody's outfit asking permission and no one wrote me back; jack boyd's daughter also wrote me, convinced her father had written it when another had recorded it already.
if one is a well-paid engineer or musician with thousands to throw at a project it's one thing. in this case my values and my purse run together. so i'm going with a duplicator who's telling me that this is not an issue. 1000 copies that i might be able to sell in seven years of gigging and busking; seems a poor use of $120.
thx all for yr feedback, i'll give anyone a shout about it when it comes out. it's at the duplicators right now. yay.
      buskerjoe