Sara Grey in her sleeve notes to "Promises to keep" says quote " I learned Ginny from Joe Hickson a good friend and folklorist at the Library of Congress. He in turn learned it in the early 60s from Phil Kennedy who collected it from the Tan Family of Benson North Carolina. It was a family song and part of a group - singing tradition going back at least a century. Phil Kennedy commented that it is probably related to the shanty " Tom's gone to Hilo" and also owes something to the black dance song tradition" unquote.
This is the sort of information sharing and tugging that we have sometimes at our folk club when someone pitches up with a new song, or a variation to a song
I learnt it from Sara grey and think it's a great song.
Kevin