Alberta (blues)

Lead Belly's fourth recorded version survives on recording disc BC-122 of the Mary Elizabeth Barnicle–Tillman Cadle Collection at East Tennessee State University,[3] recorded near the date of June 15, 1948, with which several related discs are labeled.

Mary Wheeler, in her Steamboatin' Days: Folk Songs of the River Packet Era (Baton Rouge, La.

: Louisiana State University Press, 1944), records a song she collected from Gabriel "Uncle Gabe" Hester, with the lyrics: Wheeler also reports Hester's reminiscences of the steamboat work songs he had sung as a roustabout in his younger days.

However, Wheeler's account does not explicitly give any evidence for Roger McGuinn's statement that, "This is a song sung by the stevedores who worked on the Ohio River.

"[4] The song became popular in the American folk music revival.