Fletcher Collins recorded Dan Tate's version back in November of 1941 for the Library of Congress. It must have been re-recorded in 1962 by McNeill (in the DT). The '62 recording is available on VIRIGINIA TRADITIONS: BALLADS FROM BRITISH TRADITION, from Global Village Music, 245 West 29th Street, New York, NY 10001, (212) 695-6024 and http://www.the-forum.com/globalvillage. For more on Fletcher Collins, click on Limber Jim.

There is also a fine recording of this song by Kilby Snow on the autoharp, made by Mike Seeger in 1966, on KILBY SNOW: COUNTRY SONGS AND TUNES, from Smithsonian Folkways, cassette 03902. Snow's version was published in SING OUT, but I don't have the vol. or date. And of course there is Mike Seeger's own version of this on MIKE SEEGER: SOLO - OLDTIME COUNTRY MUSIC, from Rounder (cd 0278).

Bertrand Bronson, in Vol. I(?) of his THE TRADITIONAL TUNES OF THE CHILD BALLADS, 10, The Two Sisters, #93 "The Two Sisters", p. 183, has a version from Pageton, West Virginia, sung by Rev. J.L. Sims, October 13, 1931, collected by Mrs. Buchanan and published in Barry and Buchanan, BFSSNE[BRITISH FOLK SONGS SUNG IN NEW ENGLAND(?)], No. 12(1937), p. 10. {Whew!} It goes like this:

Two little girls in a boat one day -
Oh, the wind and rain -
Two little girls in a boat one day,
Crying, oh, the wind and rain.

They floated down on the old mill dam

Charles Miller came out with his long hook and line,

He hooked her out by the long yellow hair,

He made fiddle strings of her long yellow hair,

He made fiddle screws of her long finger bones,

And the only tune the fiddle would play,

The tune looks to be about the same as that of Tate and Snow. I would be interested to know if anyone knows of other, earlier versions with the "wind and rain" refrain. Tate was from Fancy Gap, Virginia, and Snow was from Grayson County, Virginia. Is this strictly a Virginia/West Virginia tradition?