Having visited with Obray Ramsey back in 1963, I have fond memories of listening to his singing of Poor Little Ellen, I'll Cook For You Johnney, Wild Bill Jones, and The Song of the French Broad River, not to mention ground hog hunting. Here's the way I remember his words:

SONG OF THE FRENCH BROAD RIVER
(Traditional Collected & Sung by Obray Ramsey)

In the mountains and the valleys where the French Broad River flows,
If it could write the history of the mighty things it knows,
It would write of Boone and Crockett, Jackson and the Cherokee,
Flowing down through Carolina from the hills of Tennessee.

Chorus:

Come and sit down by the river, linger with it all day long,
You'll hear a thousand voices join together in this song;
The far off cries of bygone days still linger in the air,
On the banks of the river, you can hear them singing there.

From the Pink Pits to the Painted Rocks the Indian made his stand,
Up and down the river, with his bow in his right hand;
Coming from the lowlands, dressed in buckskin, with a gun,
The white man pushing westward, the setting of the sun. (CHO)

From the Big Bald Mountain, down the Edge of Tennessee,
That's the Laurel Valley with its trace of Cherokee;
To the Mountain Island, Laurel River rolls along,
Flows into the French Broad, as she sings her mighty song. (CHO)

Up the French Broad Valley you can hear a lonesome sound,
That's the deer hound baying as he runs the black buck down;
Heading up some mountain glen, he makes a running fight,
He's heading for the balsalms, he's fighting for his life. (CHO)

It's a great song backed up with his rippling three-finger banjo picking.