One might think that this was written by none other than the dear, Bascom Lamar Lunsford (who did write Mountain Dew by the way) as it is one of his signature songs and often appears on collections of his recordings. But on the Folkways recording of his, Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina, (whew) are notes written by Lunsford of each of the songs. So this is from the horses mouth, sort of. "The title of this mountain banjo song is 'I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground.' I've known it since 1901 when I heard Fred Moody, then a high school boy, sing it down in Burke County." So while good ol' Bascom taught to the rest of us, the author may be unknown.

Rex