"This song was written by Goebel Reeves (1899–1959), a genuine hobo, known as the "Texas Drifter." He performed hobo and cowboy songs, accompanying himself on the guitar, with a yodel and a trill that were to become the hallmark of his style. When Reeves's father was elected to the state legislature, the family moved to Austin. There Reeves became a legislative page and first encountered hoboes and their songs. Wounded during World War I, Reeves was discharged from the service and adopted an itinerant lifestyle. In the early 1920s he teamed up with Jimmie Rodgers to tour the eastern United States. He assimilated much of Rodgers’s country music style. After spending time in Europe as a merchant seaman, Reeves returned in the late 1920s to continue his vagabond lifestyle, supporting himself by occasionally stopping into radio stations and convincing the manager to put him on the air"
