Origin: Scottish/Irish Traditional (early 1700s).
Professor Christopher Goertzen of Univ. of Mississppi traced "Billy in the Lowground's" roots to early Scottish fiddle tune, "O, Dear Mother What Shall I do?" (1724); Goertzen also noted as an ancestor tune, "The Braes of Auchtertyre" (1761), a central song in the Scottish fiddle repertoire at the time.
First released as "Sally Johnson" and "Billy in the Low Ground" by A. C. (Eck) Robertson (1924)