The labor involved cutting sugar cane along the banks of the Brazos River, where many of the state's prison farms were located in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
On February 14, 2013, Lovett also performed this song with friend Robert Earl Keen at Rudder Auditorium on the campus of their Alma mater, Texas A&M University.
[citation needed] "Ain't No More Cane" is featured in the film Festival Express, where Rick Danko, Janis Joplin, John "Marmaduke" Dawson, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and various other musicians drunkenly sing it while on the train going to the next concert on the tour.
It was also covered by Lonnie Donnegan in 1958 and by Canadian band Crowbar on Larger than Life (And Live'r than You've Ever Been) (1971, Daffodil 2-SBA-16007) (recorded in concert at Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada).
The song has also been covered by the band The Magpie Salute, consisting of former Black Crowes members Rich Robinson, Marc Ford, and Sven Pipien.