Fiddlin' John Carson certainly brings back my sense of living near the banks of the Tennessee in Roane County, TN! Thanks, Brian. The "Ho, ho" song has an 1889 copyright on it by a D.A. Crane, with words and music by James J. Mulcahy. It may be based on an earlier minstrel tune but I was not able to find either the original of this or anything earlier. This comes considerably after the broadside.

I found the GRAHAM'S ILLUSTRATED magazine (Vol 53) that Child referred to and in which he found the two verses he quotes from the broadside. It is here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ba3PAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA277&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=rA_iTs2xFsP00gGGnYGFBg&sa=X

And here is Barry's note about this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=pR1hFqzIfGAC&pg=PA238&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=4RLiTsOGNebi0QG0xsDdBQ&sa=X

Here is another song that uses the phrase "on the banks of the old Tennessee", from the George Boswell collection of FOLK SONGS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE. It is called "Take Me Home."

http://books.google.com/books?id=QB2Dc9zeoWwC&pg=PA146&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=0gviTrznOObf0QH5h9DwBQ&sa=X

Here are two examples of early usage of the phrase "on the banks of the (old) Tennessee." First a nice short story from Vol 56 of Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine from Sept. 1844:

http://books.google.com/books?id=2fZFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA278&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=rA_iTs2xFsP00gGGnYGFBg&sa=X

And then a story about Sam Houston moving to Maryville, Tennessee, from Vol 28 of THE CENTURY magazine from 1884. (Maryville happens to be my own hometown.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=EMdZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA495&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=dBTiTpi9Iajc0QGqkd3cBQ&sa=X

And finally, a fascinating Cajun French version of "The House Carpenter" which also contains this "Tennessee" line:

http://books.google.com/books?id=y51Pcgyqj14C&pg=PA155&dq=On+the+banks+of+the+old+Tennessee&hl=en&ei=dBTiTpi9Iajc0QGqkd3cBQ&sa=X

Google Books sure is fun!