OK, Jim, now my question is whether Willa Cather published the poem only in the magazine, or if it was from a larger work. I see that Willa Cather was an editor at McClure's, so maybe she did write it just for the magazine.

The Traditional Ballad Index doesn't have much:

Spanish Johnny

DESCRIPTION: "The old West, the old time, The old wind singing through..." are the habitat of Spanish Johnny, who herds cattle and kills men and "sing[s] to his mandolin." Spanish Johnny is finally hung; the night before he dies, he sings one last time to the mandolin
AUTHOR: Words: Willa Cather / Music: C. E. Scoggins (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: cowboy death execution music
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 123-124, "Spanish Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15551
Notes: Written as a poem, the Lomaxes apparently collected this from the author of the tune. There is no evidence that it ever entered tradition. - RBW
File: LxA123

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Roud lists only the version in Lomax.

The Bromberg and Emmylou Harris recordings are both wonderful - can't decide which one I like better.

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Here's my transcription of the tune from Lomax (Stewie posted the lyrics above) - does it have any tie to the Emmylou tune?

Click to play

-Joe-