Looking at Robert W. Gordon's card catalog, I find that Gordon recorded a man named Austin Butler singing "Nine Pound Hammer" in the Darien, GA. area, in 1926. I have Gordon's notes in front of me, but he didn't note the exact date. (I know that cylinder A279 was recorded on March 19, and "Nine Pound Hammer" is number A252; given the clip at which he recorded, it would be within a week or so of March 19.) The date is often spoken on the cylinder itself, but I don't have time to pull the tape dub and listen to it.

In any case, this means that the Hillbillies' 1927 recording is only the first COMMERCIAL recording of the song, not the first documented recording. More than likely, we can find manuscript versions as well dating back to before 1927.

Again, we would need to know just what Charlie did to the song to know how good a claim he has to "writing" his version.