One of Burl ives' earliest recordings was for a set of 78rpm records entitled The Lonesome Train Cantata. The train was the one that toured the US carrying Lincoln's coffin after his assassination.

http://www.mediafire.com/folder/a8p6lbj1r653e/The_Lonesome_Train_Cantata

This was a ballad opera / cantata long before Ewan MacColl's Radio Ballads.

https://research.gold.ac.uk/11330/1/The%20Lonesome%20Train%20%28Norman%20Corwin%29_%20Review%202.pdf

====