Subject: RE: Peter Kennedy's Folktrax recordings
From:
GUEST,Greg Gunner
Date: 19 Apr 12 - 02:33 PM
The Proffitt family's claim to "Tom Dooley" is attributed to Frank Proffitt's grandmother Phoebe Pardue Proffitt. According to the Proffitt family's version of the story that I heard from Frank Proffitt, Jr. and read elsewhere, Phoebe Pardue grew up in Wilkes County where the Tom Dooley saga took place. Supposedly, Phoebe heard the song as a young girl in Wilkes County and later taught it to Frank Proffitt's father, Wiley Proffitt, and paternal aunt, Nancy Proffitt Prather. Frank Proffitt, in turn, learned it from his father and his aunt.
Chronologically, there is one problem with the Proffitt version. The Tom Dooley saga took place immediately following the Civil War. Although it is true that Phoebe Pardue and her family originated from Wilkes County, North Carolina, Phoebe Pardue had been living in Johnson County Tennessee at least since the 1860 Johnson County Tennessee Census. Phoebe Proffitt married John Wesley Proffitt (Frank Proffitt's grandfather) sometime after the Civil War. This would suggest that Phoebe Proffitt was already a young married woman at the time of the Tom Dooley saga, not a young girl in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
Also, Grayson and Whitter recorded "Tom Dooley" in the late 1920's, eight to nine years before Frank Proffitt's version was collected by the Warner's. Grayson was a native of Johnson County Tennessee, and a neighbor of John Wesley Proffitt and Phoebe Pardue Proffitt.
It appears that "Tom Dooley" was a local song popular in east Tennessee and northwest North Carolina. Grayson may have learned the song from the Proffitt family. Or Frank Proffitt may have learned the song from the Grayson and Whitter recording. However, the explanation could be as simple as both Grayson and Whitter and Frank Proffitt learning the song from oral tradition, a tradition that never recorded the composer's name. And since Tom Dula (Dooley) was captured in Johnson County Tennessee, the story and the song had a great amount of interest in east Tennessee.
Frank Proffitt's claim to ownership centered on a verse or two that was found in the Proffitt version of "Tom Dooley" that was not present in other versions. The conclusion being that the Kingston Trio used the Proffitt version via Frank Warner and not some other version.
Like somewone else has written, the bulk of the royalties went to the Kingston Trio, as they owned the rights prior to the 1962 settlement. Frank Proffitt's inital royalty check went to pay his son's college tuition. Subsequent checks enabled him to secure a loan to build his family a new home. It was either Lee Haggerty or Sandy Paton who loaned Frank Proffitt the money to finish his home. The loan was to be paid off through income generated by the sale of Frank Proffitt's recordings and handmade musical instruments. With Frank Proffitt's untimely death in 1965 and folk music's slow demise under the onslaught of rock and roll, the loan was never fully repaid.
Frank Proffitt did not compose "Tom Dooley", but neither did the Kingston Trio. The issue was not whether Frank Proffitt owned the song, but whether or not he owned his family's version of the song, particularly the common lyrics.
Greg
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