Down in the Valley

Folksong found in Appalachia, the American South and Lower Midwest. The song was collected by folklorist and professor at the University of Missouri, Henry Marvin Beldin in 1909. Most of the first recorded versions of this song were called "Birmingham Jail", based off the paragraph of lyrics referring to the jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Guitarist Jimmie Tarlton claimed to have written the Birmingham jail paragraph of lyrics in 1925 while he was jailed in Birmingham for moonshining, which is very possible since he and his partner Tom Darby were the first to record this as "Birmingham Jail" on November 10, 1927, in Atlanta, Georgia.