I may even have the Black Banjo Songsters collection, now that you mention it. I'll take a look.

It sounds to me like the song is indeed an authentic example of the African American blues ballad form. Lunsford, while a prodigious folklorist, is hardly an original source. I haven't been able to find anything out about the other sources mentioned.

I've been playing it on fretless gourd banjo - it works wonderfully.

Dan