Tom Dooley
"Tom Dooley" is a North Carolina murder ballad about Tom Dula, a Confederate veteran hanged in 1868 for the killing of Laura Foster. Nearly a century later the Kingston Trio's 1958 recording topped the Billboard Hot 100 and is often credited with starting the folk music boom.
- Based on
- The 1866 murder of Laura Foster, Wilkes County, North Carolina
- Tom Dula
- Convicted and hanged on 1 May 1868
- First group recording
- G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter, 1929
- Famous hit
- The Kingston Trio, 1958 (number 1, Billboard Hot 100)
- Index
- Roud 4192, Laws F36
The true story
In 1866 Laura Foster was stabbed to death in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Tom Dula, a Confederate veteran who had been involved with her, was charged with the murder. His trial was moved to Statesville because it was thought he could not get a fair hearing in Wilkes County, and the former governor Zebulon Vance defended him without fee. Dula was convicted and hanged on 1 May 1868. Anne Foster Melton, his lover, was tried separately and acquitted.
The song
A local poet, Thomas C. Land, wrote a song about the case soon after the hanging. G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter recorded it for Victor in 1929. In 1940 the collector Frank Warner learned a version from Frank Proffitt, who had it from his aunt; Warner passed it on to Alan Lomax, who printed it in Folk Song: USA, and Warner recorded it himself in 1952.
We describe this song rather than print its words: versions differ from singer to singer, and many of the best-known texts come from particular recordings.
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio's recording, released by Capitol in 1958, went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and in several other countries, and helped launch the folk revival that followed. It has since received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and been added to the National Recording Registry. After a legal case, Frank Proffitt was acknowledged as the preserver of the original version and received royalties.
More ballads: Barbara Allen · John Henry · Man of Constant Sorrow. Learn the chords on our banjo chord chart.