Lonesome Road Blues

Lonesome Road Blues is an Old Time and Bluegrass breakdown in G, also known as “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.” Fiddlers in the Round Peak, North Carolina and Galax, Virginia area knew it by this title, and Tommy Jarrell dated its arrival in his community to about 1918. Henry Whitter made the first known recording for OKeh in December 1923, singing to his own guitar and harmonica, and Ernest V. Stoneman’s Trio recorded it in 1927 with Kahle Brewer on fiddle. On the bluegrass side, Flatt and Scruggs turned it into a banjo feature on Foggy Mountain Banjo, and Tommy Jarrell’s version appears on Pickin’ on Tommy’s Porch (County 778).

Note: Vocalion 14809 (April 1924) is George Reneau’s cover, not a Whitter recording; DAHR lists Whitter only as composer. Whitter’s own versions are OKeh 40015 (Dec. 1923) and OKeh 40169 (July 1924, as ‘Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad’). DAHR credits Henry Whitter as composer and lyricist based on Copyright Office files, but this may be a registration claim on a song already circulating.