I learnt to sing the Sourwood Mountain song at school in 1957 in Cornwall, SW England. Cornwall has a long history of mining and so I assumed that the song was learnt somewhere with mining and then brought back to England by the Cornish miners. We also have a great tradition of singing and Methodism.   I went to the Sourwood Mountain festival in Black Mountain NC a few years ago but it wasn't really played. Some guys on the tourist train Great Smoky mountains ride knew it and played it for me. they played it very fast like a jig. I used to drive my mother mad by singing the song all the time and this is why I decided to try and find out more about it. It sounds like I haven't yet tracked down the real mountain but I think there must be a link to mining. It also doesn't sound like a Cornish folksong to me so I believe it did originate in America somewhere. Thanks