Goebel Reeves wrote and recorded this song in 1936. He set his lyrics to the melody of the Civil War song, “After the Battle Mother.” It has become a standard among the folk music crowd and has been recorded by many including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, and Emmylou Harris among others.
I played it as a 3-chord song in the key of G with fingerstyle accompaniment.
This song uses “Travis Picking” fingerstyle accompaniment on the ukulele. Many of my songs use the same technique and it’s simple once you get the hang of it, although it may take quite a bit of practicing it slowly to master it.
The first three example patterns on my fingerstyle tutorial show you how to play it. Here’s a link:
I’ve also created a separate category just for the Travis Picking style where you can find other songs that I play in the same style. You can find it here: