Lyrics by Willis Maberry, as performed by the Blue Sky Boys and by the Stanley Brothers
http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/m&m/05.htm
In the beautiful hills, in the midst of Roane Country
There's where I roamed for many long years
There's where my heart's been tending most ever
That's where the first step of misfortune I made
I was thirty years old when I courted and married
Amanda Gilbraith was then called my wife
Her brother stabbed me for some unknown reason
Just three months later I'd taken Tom's life
For twenty five years this whole world I rambled
I went to old England, to France and to Spain
I thought of my home way back in Roane Country
I boarded a steamer and came back again
I was captured and tried in the village of Kingston
Not a man in that county would speak one kind word
When the jury came in with the verdict next morning
A lifetime in prison was the words that I heard
When the train pulled out poor mother stood weepin
And sister she sat alone with a sigh
The last words I heard were "Willie God bless you"
Was "Willie God bless you, God bless you, good bye"
The train left the shed at about eleven thirty
The chains they did rattle, the handcuffs were tight
When Sonny Gibson took the throttle
The engine one-thirty was soon out of sight
In the scorching hot sun I've been toiling
Just working and worrying my poof life away
You can measure my grave on the banks of old Cumberland
After I've finished the rest of my days
No matter what happens to me in Roane County
No matter how long my sentence may be
I'll love my old home way back in Roane County
It's a way back down in old East Tennesse
Sweet Martha was grave but Corey was better
There's better and worse, although you can see
Boys when you write home from the prison in Nashville
Place one of my songs in your letter for me