As I recomember, (I was a mear chy-uld at the time), it was a man named Tex Williams who recorded "Playin' Dominoes and Shootin' Dice". I don't know was the author of it. Maybe Tex Ritter wrote it.

Jimmy Driftwood wrote a murder ballad. While it is not an Appalachian ballad, it IS an Ozark Ballad. Should be close enough for government work.

TRAGEDY ON THE M&NA (Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad)

I was born and raised in Arkansas in a pine log shack.
I fell in love with a pretty little girl in the land of the Rackensack.
I loved that girl so very much, it wasn't any fun.
Then one night I lost my head and I tell you what I done.

CHO: I asked her if she'd marry me. She said we'd have to part.
I took out my hunting knife and I stabbed her in the heart.
I tried all night to bring her back, but at the break of day;
I ran down to the railroad track and I caught the M&NA.

One night while I was yearning for my home in the Rackensack,
I heard a voice I knew and felt a six-gun in my back.
Her father said, “You're going home and face the music, son.”
I gave him my hunting knife and I told him what I done. (Chorus)

The night before my trial, Mother Nature cast her vote.
A rattlesnake got in my bed and bit me on the throat.
I know that I am dying, so goodbye to this old world.
Only God above can know how much I loved that girl. (Chorus)

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 22-Apr-02.