Richie, you seem to imply that Lisha Shelton's version - "In Zepo Town" - is in Sharp's Appalachian collection. It was actually recordede by John Cohen from Lisha Shelton and the recording can be heard on the CD/DVD set ""Dark Holler" (Smithsonian/Folkways SFW CD 40159. I have always thought that "Zepo" was a corruption of "Seaport" (an alternate title), which probably arose in oral transmission. As to how the ballad arrived in Appalachia - some early settlers took it there, along with all those other songs and ballads.