Re. Planxty's recording:

For the record, when Christy Moore said  "I collected it (i.e., the text) in a book",  he meant that he had found it in a book, not that he'd written any of it himself.  He got the tune from a recording by Nic Jones, the seminal English singer and guitar player (Ballads & Songs, Trailer LER 2014, 1970), who had this to say about it:

"Musgrave's tune is more a creation of my own than anything else, although the bulk of it is based on an American variant of the same ballad, entitled Little Matty Groves."

Planxty's version is indeed a fine one, but it's only a shadow of Jones'.  Sadly, Nic had to retire due to serious injuries sustained in a car crash, and the record is no longer available; "Celtic Records" bought the Leader/Trailer back-catalogue, and refuses to re-issue the material.

Malcolm