Dan

All examples seem to be fairly recent. The Ballad Index entry, gives the earliest examples as a Pete Seeger recording of 1955.

The Roud Index - 3119 has 6 entries for the song, the earliest is 1940 - WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.288 (version b), under the title The Weeping Willow Tree collected from Mrs. Alice Stapleton, of Esserville, Va. The next is 1942 (the link is to all 6 entries).



Mick