As we've observed in other threads, JJN was not a "thief." Quite the contrary. He wrote and rewrote lyrics, and adapted and composed melodies. He built himself a giant dulcimore from a bass fiddle and cultivated his countertenor. Then he more or less suggested to his audience thathis performances came straight from the unsophisticated, musically illiterate folks of Kentucky and North Carolina and, by an undeviating route through them, directly and pristinely from Ye Middle Ages.

He really does deserve composer credit for most everything he put before the public.