Recorded with his Bluegrass Boys and featuring fiddles and yodelling, they represent the "longest train" variant of the song, and omit any reference to a decapitation.

According to the American folklorist Alan Lomax, Lead Belly learned the song from an interpretation of the 1917 version compiled by Cecil Sharp, and by the 1925 phonograph recording.

[7] The country duo The Louvin Brothers recorded "In the Pines" for their debut album, Tragic Songs of Life, from 1956.

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana played guitar on the version that appears on Mark Lanegan's 1990 album The Winding Sheet.

[11] The first officially released version by Nirvana was recorded during the band's MTV Unplugged appearance, on November 18, 1993, at Sony Music Studios in New York City.

In 1994, American poet Allen Ginsberg recalled that "a couple weeks ago, one of my students gave me a mixed tape of Kurt Cobain and there was a version of 'Black Girl' of great artistry.

"[17] Canadian musician Neil Young described Cobain's vocals during the final screamed verse as "unearthly, like a werewolf, unbelievable.

"[18] In 2013, Andrew Wallace Chamings of The Atlantic wrote that "it ranks among the greatest single rock performances of all time.