I often saw the Joe King in question attending the Flying Cloud Folk Club in Toronto. Neither Joe nor the club is still with us. I passed on this question to Jim Armour, who has been active in the folk community here for a long time. Here's what Jim wrote back:

The question does sound like it relates to Joe Le Blanc (Joe King). He was fond of changing the words to established songs to fit Nova Scotia. (I know of at least one other.)

Joe died August 23, 2007.

Re: the lyrics that are quoted ("I followed her down..."): I'm pretty sure they're from a Dave Essig song called "High Ground." It's one of those love-lost, heart-wringing songs of tragedy that Joe loved so much, and I know I've heard him sing it on at least one occasion.

Joe did make some recordings on his Rainbow Records, but I can't remember if he ever made any CDs. As I recall they were mainly 45s and LPs.