State of Arkansas, The (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1]

DESCRIPTION: A traveler arrives in Arkansas and finds that it fully meets his (lack of) expectations. He "never knowed what misery was till I come to Arkansas." His boss had promised that the state would make him a different man, and he is: He is now badly starved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: poverty humorous hardtimes starvation
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (32 citations):
Laws H1, "The Arkansas Traveler"
Randolph 347, "The State of Arkansas" (4 texts plus 2 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 288-290, "The State of Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 347A)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 424-426, "Bill Stafford" (2 texts)
Welsch-NebraskaPioneerLore, pp. 49-50, "Bill Stafford" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, p. 363, "My Name is John Johanna" (1 text)
Cohen-LongSteelRail, pp. 560-566, "Way Out in Idaho" (2 texts, 1 tune; the main text and tune are "Way Out in Idaho (I)", but a secondary text is a version of this piece)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 331, "Arkansas Traveller (II)" (2 texts)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 331, "Arkansas Traveler (II)" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 138, "Arkansas Traveler (II)" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 80, p. 208, "Tocowa" (1 short text with "Tocowa," not Arkansas, the site of the singer's bad experience)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 190, "The State of Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 226-228, "Sanford Barnes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 52, "The Arkansaw Traveler" (2 texts)
Dean-FlyingCloud, pp. 8-9, "The Arkansas Navvy" (1 text)
Neely/Spargo-TalesAndSongsOfSouthernIllinois, pp. 210-212, "William Stafford" (1 text)
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, pp. 171-172, (no title) (1 text) (OakEd, pp. 176-177)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 152-153, "State of Arkansas" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 434, "The Arkansaw Traveler" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 71, "The State of Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 167, "The State of Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 53, "An Arkansaw Traveller" (3 texts)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol3, pp. 25-27, "Bill Stafford" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 170, "Old Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 42, pp. 74-76, "An ARkansas Traveller (Bill Stafford)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 44, "My Name Is John Johanna" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H0, p. 53, "The State of Arkansaw" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 225-226, "Old Arkansas" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 46, "The State of Arkansas" (1 text)
DT 643, STATEARK* STATARK2*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 46-53, texts of both "The Arkansas Traveler" and "The State of Arkansas," with folktale variants, a reproduction of a painting of the fiddler and traveler, and background information
Richard M. Dorson, _Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore in the United States_, University of Chicago Press, 1964, pp. 402-403, "William Stafford" (1 text)
Roud #257
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "State of Arkansas" (General 5018A, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Paddy Duggan, "Arkansas" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Kelly Harrell, "My Name is John Johanna" (Victor 21520A, 1927; on KHarrell02, AAFM1, HardTimes1)
Pete Seeger, "State of Arkansas" (on PeteSeeger19, AmHist2)
Pete Seeger & Sonny Terry, "Arkansas Traveller" (on SeegerTerry)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Barnyards o' Delgaty" (theme)
cf. "Joe Bowers" (tune -- some versions)
cf. "Diamond Joe (I)" (tune, lyrics)
cf. "Way Out in Idaho (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES [97 words]: This should not be confused with the fiddle tune "Arkansas Traveler," or with the minstrel-show sketch from which it derives. -PJS
Paul Stamler reports that this is "Credited to Sanford Barnes of Buffalo, [Missouri]." Many other authors, however, have been listed, e.g. Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety knows of an attribution to T. W. Shelton and another to Pat Kelly. Carmer credits Ransom C. Cook. Eckstorm traces it back to "Canada I O." I incline to think all the claims false -- though I wouldn't be surprised if the author really was from Missouri.... - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LH01

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