This is why I love Mudcat!    In the world of American Old-Time and folk, this version of Frankie And Johnny is pretty much always attributed to Charlie Poole.    Considering the sophistication of the song form, that seemed kind of suspect to me, but I din't know the background beyond him.   I thought that it was either that case, or Charlie Poole must have had much more musical background than one would suspect of an old-time 1926 banjo man.
Once again, another American musical genre lets Tin Pan Alley provide the song writing chops needed to appeal beyond their usual audience!   So interesting!
Thank you so much to everybody for contributing!