Story Behind the Song Wild Bill Jones

Any tribute to The Stanley Brothers calls for an inside look at a favorite Stanley Brothers song. I’m not the expert some are on The Stanley Brothers or Ralph Stanley, but I’ve always enjoyed their lonesome, high-in-the-mountains sound on songs like “Rank Stranger,” “Angel Band,” and so many others. In looking back through some of my own favorites, I kept coming back to their recording of the traditional song, “Wild Bill Jones.” 

A wonderful example of a story ballad, “Wild Bill Jones” has a somewhat elusive history. A Google search brings up multiple theories about the song, including lyric listings that credit Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson as the writer. Of course, this cannot be the case at least when it comes to the earliest versions of the song, for the earliest recorded version is attributed to Eva Davis in April of 1924, just one year after Watson was born (Secondhandsongs.com). 

The folks at Bluegrassmessengers.com report a little more about Davis, that she was born in 1889 in Sylva, North Carolina, and that by 1920, was a mother of five living in Asheville. The site shares that Davis was a banjo picker and singer who played music with fellow musician Samantha Bumgarner, who she accompanied to a Columbia recording session in New York City. However, according to the site, “Davis recorded two songs by herself (banjo and vocal).” Those were “Wild Bill Jones” and “John Hardy.” 

The writer of “Wild Bill Jones” is not easy to trace, as far as I can tell. The song seems to be among the many traditional songs that have been passed from generation to generation, with variations in lyric and arrangement. Therefore, being unable to search out the story behind the song’s lyrics and architecture on my own, I set out to learn more from the go-to source on all things Stanley, BU’s own Gary Reid (Notes & Queries).  

Reid, who became fascinated with the Stanley sound as a young man, went on to document the brothers’ recordings, correct mistakes on previous documentations, write liner notes for many Stanley albums, and—as a member of Rebel Records—oversee the production of several of Ralph Stanley’s later recordings. Today, Reid is well known for his one-man play, A Life of Sorrow – the Life and Times of Carter Stanley, and his book, The Music of the Stanley Brothers (2015). The latter led to his earning the 2015 International Bluegrass Music Association award for “Print/Media Person of the Year.”

Knowing Reid’s extensive knowledge of the Stanleys and bluegrass history in general, I asked him about how far back the song dates and the Stanley’s exposure to it. “Arthur Kyle Davis’ book on Folks Songs of Virginia shows that the song was in circulation in Dickenson County (the Stanley Brothers’ home county) in the 1930s,” answered Reid. “Although Lily May Ledford’s recording was made after the Stanley Brothers’ recording, it’s quite likely she knew the song long before that, and most likely performed it on radio with the Coon Creek Girls, of which Ralph was a fan.”

Expounding a little on the Stanley philosophy of song choices, Reid added, “The Stanley Brothers were a mix of the old and the new. Carter Stanley was a master at creating new songs and at repurposing older songs and tunes and making them new. Ralph Stanley, when he was featured for a solo on a record or a live performance, tended to favor older material, which ‘Wild Bill Jones’ would certainly qualify as. Ralph Stanley learned a number of his solo songs, such as ‘I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow’ and ‘Pretty Polly,’ from his father. It’s uncertain exactly where Ralph learned this song from, but it is in the same vein as other solos that he had done. Perhaps it was no coincidence that, two weeks after the Stanley Brothers recorded this song, they were slated to appear at the first-ever University of Chicago Folk Festival.” 

Reid sent a bit more history my way from the publication “Sing Out,” The Folk Song Magazine, Volume 23/Number 6/1975. About WBJ, the magazine states, “Ralph Stanley is one of that rare breed of country musicians able to put a traditional song into a hard-driving bluegrass setting without giving it an identity crisis. Such songs have always been an important part of Ralph’s repertoire. ‘Wild Bill Jones’ is a good example of a native American ballad that Ralph has made ‘feel at home’ in bluegrass style.”

The magazine also pointed out that “although the song appears in Cecil Sharpe’s English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, folklorist D.K. Wilgus says this song cannot be traced at all to British broadsides. Sharpe has a version from North Carolina in 3/4 time that has a text similar to Ralph’s version, but a totally different modal melody line. The melody Ralph sings is almost identical to the one recorded by Wade Mainer and his Smiling Rangers on Bluebird 7249, reissued on County 404, that appears in the New Lost City Ramblers Songbook (Oak, NY). Other sources include G. Reneau on Vocalion 14998 (an old 78), Dock Boggs on Folkways FA 2351, Mike Seeger on Vanguard VRS 9150, Tracy Schwarz on Folk Variety FV 12007. The Stanley’s version is on The Stanley Brothers Sing the Songs They Like Best, King KLP 772.”

“Wild Bill Jones” also appears on Stanley Brothers Best, Vol. 4. (2015) and Ralph Stanley and Ralph Stanley II’s Side by Side (2014). The song is also included on The Stanley Brothers – The Early Starday King Years 1958-1961, a four-CD set that Reid recommends as “an excellent choice for folks wanting a mega-dose of prime Stanley music.”