Lonesome Valley (I)

DESCRIPTION: "You've got to walk that lonesome valley, you've got to walk it by yourself; There's no one here can go there with you [or: walk it for you]; You've got to go there by yourself." Various floating verses about the difficult path to heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Jenkins Family)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 622, "Some Folks Say John Was a Baptist" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune -- a floating verse which, based on the tune, probably belongs here)
Warner 162, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune, sung and notated in three parts)
Sandburg, p. 486, "You Got To Cross It Foh Yohself" (1 text, 1 tune)
Parrish, p. 196, "I Got to Lay In Yonder Graveyard" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 100, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hutson/Pinckney/Rutledge, pp. 286-287, "Uh Look Down duh Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 762, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text)
DT, LONEVALY
Roud #7098
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Crazy Tenneseans, "Lonesome Valley" (OKeh 04730/Vocalion 04730/Conqueror 9256, 1939; Conqueror 9781, 1941; rec. 1937)
Carolina Ramblers String Band, "That Lonesome Valley" (Perfect 12818/Banner 32474/Oriole 8148/Romeo 5148/Melotone 12428, 1932)
Carter Family, "Lonesome Valley" (Victor 23541, 1931; Bluebird B-6117/Montgomery Ward M-4735, 1935) (OKeh 03112, 1935; Vocalion 03112, 1935; ARC 7-07-62/Conqueror 8815, 1937; on CGospel1)
"Slim" Duckett and "Pig" Norwood, "You Gotta Stand Judgment For Yourself" (OKeh ???, 1930)
Bill Elliott, "Lonesome Valley" (Victor 23658, 1932; Montgomery Ward M-4337 [as Jim Baird], c. 1933)
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, "Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky" (Columbia 21334, 1954)
Elzie Floyd & Leo Boswell, "Lonesome Valley" (Columbia 15167-D, 1927; Velvet Tone 2491-V/Clarion 5439-C, 1932)
Jenkins Family, "That Lonesome Valley" (OKeh 40377, 1925)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "Walk This Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6984, 1937)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Walk That Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6596/Montgomery Ward M-7007, 1936)
Curt Mann, "Lonesome Valley" (on USWarnerColl01)
[Lester] McFarland & [Robert] Gardner, "The Lonesome Valley" (Vocalion 5127, 1927)
Blind Willie McTell, "I Got to Cross the River of Jordan" (LoC, 1940, two versions; one version is on Babylon)
Blind Willie McTell, "I Got to Cross the River of Jordan" (LoC, 1940, two versions, on USWMcTell01; one version is on Babylon)
David Miller, "That Lonesome Valley" (Gennett 6175, 1927)
Mitchell's Christian Singers, "You Got to Stand Judgement" (Vocalion 04964, 1938)
Monroe Brothers, "You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6477, 1936)
Pete Seeger, "You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley" (on BroonzySeeger1); "Lonesome Valley" (on PeteSeeger47)
Ella Mae Wilson and Lillie B. Williams, "Trial in Judgment" (on USFlorida01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Trials" (floating verses)
cf. "I'm Going To Cross That Ocean By Myself" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
RECORDING: Dixie Reelers, "Lonesome Valley - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6713/Montgomery Ward M-7099, 1936)
NOTES [87 words]: The "Judgment" recordings all have the same form and tune as the "Lonesome Valley" versions. The difference is that "You've got to walk that lonesome valley... by yourself" becomes "You've got to stand your trial in judgment ... for yourself." The USFlorida01 version continues with "my father," "my son," "everybody," and so on, similar to the the Carter Family recording. Mitchell's Christian Singers use the "stand judgment" verse as a chorus the same way that Carolina String Band use the "Lonesome Valley" verse. - BS
Last updated in version 5.1
File: Wa162

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2020 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.