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WRECK OF THE SOUTHERN OLD 97 < previous next >
| (public domain) |
| (o): | Henry Whitter (1924) | label: Okeh |
| | The ballad as we know it was written by Charles Noell of Greensboro, NC, shortened by Henry Whitter. Henry Whitter was a textile worker and hillbilly singer-guitarist-harmonicaman from Virginia who'd been singing this ballad for some 20 years before he first cut it. Based on the train accident in 1903 on the Southern Railway near Danville, Virginia, somewhere between Monroe and Spencer, causing the death of ten. Melody based upon The Ship That Never Returned by Henry Clay Work (the man who wrote Grandfather's Clock - see there). This success triggered the interest of other big record companies in hillbilly music (and country). Makes for an amazing pile of train wreck songs through the years. |
| (c): | Vernon Dalhart (1924) [as Wreck Of The Old 97, with The Prisoner's Song on the B-side, the surprise hit that triggered the industry's interest in hillbilly music], George Reneau (1924) , Ernest Thompson (1924) , Kelly Harrell & Henry Whitter (1925) , Carl Fenton's Orch. (1925) , Vaughn Deleath (1926) , Gid Tanner & His Skilled Lickers (1927) , Arthur Fields (1927) , Paul Miles & The Red Fox Chasers (1928) [as Wreck On The Mountain Road; oldest trucker song], Arizona Wranglers (1929) , Pink Anderson (1950) , Johnny Cash (1956) [as Wreck Of The Old 97], Lonnie Donegan (1956) [idem], Carolyn Hester (1958) [idem], Kingston Trio (1959) [parody as M.T.A.; hit US], Tommy Collins (1960) , Dorsey Dixon (1962) , Seekers (1964) , Hank III (2002) , John Mellencamp (2004) [version on the Rose & The Briar cd], |
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| See also: M.T.A. |
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