I would doubt that the question of authorship of Sixteen Tons will ever be be determined to everyone's satisfaction. My time around Merle Travis was very limited but one thing that impressed me was how quickly and how easily he credited others for their influences and accomplishments. He may have borrowed phrases but there was a distinctiveness in Travis expressions in songs that is consistent with Sixteen Tons.

The main reason I am commenting here is that there is a similar situation here in Stone County Arkansas. Jimmy Driftwood, who is known to many Mudcatters is from this area. There are many admirers here but also at one time when Jimmy was active there was a segment that believed Jimmy had "stolen" the Battle of New Orleans and other songs for which he was credited. There were those who would not sing songs passed through their family in public gatherings out of fear Jimmy or someone else would 'steal' the songs. I know of no evidence that Jimmy had taken credit for someone else's song but the stories circulated. Jimmy may have borrowed a phrase or taken an idea and put it to use but he had a distinctiveness about his lyrics that was identifiable and there were versions of several older folk songs done by local people that I knew had been rewritten by Jimmy before it was ever verified.

It is a fact that some people take songs they hear from others and claim them as their own, but it is also true in communities where there are famous singers or songwriters claims are also made about where they got their songs. The claims might well originate because of a common phrase or expression. There may even an underlying family rivalry. I have found the human memory to sometimes be very selective and very unreliable in certain cases. As Uncle Floyd Holland, a local singer who lived into 90s would say, "When he's telling the truth you can believe every word he says. When he is lying you can't put any confidence in him at all."