Next day: Magnificent storm! Washed away all my petty little woes, and put Life back into proper perspective... My Dad's "Foreign Lander" is, as far as I know, the only variant around our part of Kentucky. The lyrics which you printed from SINGING FAMILY of the CUMBERLANDS, are the ones sung by my dad, Balis W. Ritchie, and his cousin Jason Ritchie. They were natives of Knott County, KY, so I guess the song came from there, and before that, Scotland/England.

Martha Hall, my second cousin Herman Hall's wife, lived in our village, Viper, KY. She learned some songs from us, and when John Cohen came visiting Roscoe Holcomb, I think he recorded her...she was a shy woman and wouldn't sing for just anyone. As for Rory Block's recording, I can only guess. Her treatment is very agressive and different (it's usually a sweet, gentle song), but basically she seems to have our original song underneath. Isn't she Alan Block's daughter? George and I used to know Alan when he had a sandal shop in Greenwich VIllage next to Izzy Young's Folklore Center. We attended many a rent party for Alan and his wife, in their loft flat, and they gave me my first guitar at one of those parties! Anyway, Alan may have learned, "Foreign Lander" at one of these evenings, and later passed in on the Rory. An example of how folk songs 'travel...' Jean