Hi Lighter,

I have been unable to trace most of Gainer's informants, by google search or ancestry.com I have found a couple of them. This is very unusual. Some of Gainer's ballads with the exact same text have been attributed to 3 different informants!!!

The fact that it was attributed to his grandfather (Gainer was raised by his grandfather, his father died when he was two years old- if I remember correctly) and later the nearly exact same ballad is attributed to Nan Wilson-- when no other versions have been found in the US, is damning evidence, IMHO.

Richie