[6][7] The Yew Piney Mountain variant is also called "Garfield's Blackberry Blossom", perhaps to distinguish it from the earlier version.
[8] Of the two tunes, Andrew Kuntz writes to the effect that "Betty Vornbrock and others have noted a similarity between 'Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom' and the West Virginia tune 'Yew Piney Mountain', a variant ... also played by Kentucky fiddlers J.P. Fraley and Santford Kelly".
[9] It is not clear whether the earlier melody of Garfield's Blackberry Blossom evolved into Arthur Smith's version or if the two were always separate.
Charles Wolfe wrote in his book “The Devil’s Box” that Smith's tune was named in a radio contest in which listeners submitted suggestions for his unnamed piece.
According to Devon Wells, "Blackberry Blossom", as a banjo tune, was brought to the public's attention as one of the earliest arrangements of Bill Keith.