It doesn't shed much light, but ... another Travis standard, "Roll on, Buddy (aka Nine Pound Hammer)" came out of the Hazard area (last line: "It's a long way to Harlan and a long way to Hazard just to get a little brew." Harlan and Hazard are the seats of two of the rare "wet" counties in eastern Kentucky.) Though the gulf between Travis's native western Kentucky and the Hazard area is about as big as the one between Massachusetts and Montreal, he may have done some collecting in the eastern hills. Still, I don't think Travis ever claimed to have written "Roll.."
I think there are some downloads of the Singing Miner's work on a Smithsonian site. He's on the CD "Mountain Music of Kentucky," a collection of recordings made in the Hazard, Hindman, Whitesburg, Ky., area by John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers in 1960 or so. Roscoe Holcomb and Banjo Bill Cornett are among the others on it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Jack Wright, who used to drop in at the cat from time to time, could offer some insight.