Looks as though we can add a couple more surfacings to the excellent list provided by Rich, above. Stanley MacDonald always sang the ballad at the Miramichi Festival in the early 60s, which meant that Joe Estey did NOT sing it there, because it was considered by the community to be "Stanley's song." That makes 13.

Sandy Ives (Dr. Edward Ives) has included a fine version from Edmund Doucette of PEI in his new and splendid book, Drive Dull Care Away -- which comes, by the way, with an included compact disc! Doucette's version makes the count 14.

The ballad seems very well-established in the Maritime and northeast US singing tradition, but Gainer's report from West Virginia seems to be an isolated anomaly.

Sandy