Thanks, yet again, to all who supplied information! Special thanks as well to whomever added "(Staines)" to the thread name (I should have done that in the first place!)

The consensus seems to be that the song is actually called "The Ballad of the Maples" (go figure), and that it appears on Rodeo Rose. I note from Bill Staines's website that Rodeo Rose was recorded in 1981, so it couldn't have been the record I heard playing in somebody's dorm room in the early-to-mid 70's. I also note that he apparently has five albums that are no longer in print. One of those five is probably the album I'm really looking for. But I'll give Rodeo Rose a try.

Interesting note about "The Maples" being a bar in New Hampshire. As I recall from that long-ago concert, he mentioned the Hawthorne hotel in Salem MA in his introduction to "Ballad of the Maples". That isn't so very far from the New Hampshire border.