A folk hymn also performed as a Christmas carol, written and composed by folk singer John Jacob Niles based on a some fragments of an Appalachian traditional he had collected in mid 1933. After extending the melody from one to four lines and the lyrics to three stanzas. Niles performed the entire song for the 1st time on Dec. 19th, 1933, at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, and published it in "Songs of the Hill Folk" in early 1934.
