Long Way From Home Medley

The first song here, "My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains," is so ubiquitous in the American folk tradition that I can’t possibly remember when, where or from whom I first learned it. The second, "Poor Boy Long Ways From Home," is a guitar blues that’s been around for a while under various titles; although it’s sometimes attributed to John Fahey, he admitted to learning the song from the 1927 recording by blues 12-string guitarist Barbecue Bob (as did Doc Watson, who called it “Poor Boy Blues”). Furthermore, Fahey’s version is only a slight variation on early Grand Ole Opry guitarist Sam McGee’s adaptation, “Knoxville Blues” (which Fahey also recorded), which in turn is pretty much identical to the 19th-century parlor guitar piece “The Siege of Sebastopol” (which Fahey also recorded). Such is the slippery nature of the folk process…