I'm Going to the West

The folk music standard I'm going to the West is also known by the title Going to the West. It was collected by Alabama professor Byron Arnold from Janie Barnard Couch of Guntersville, Alabama in June or July 1947,^[1][2][3] and published in an Alabama songbook in 1950.^[1]

Partial Discography

• Brown, Mason; and Chipper Thompson. Am I Born to Die. An Appalachian Songbook, Dorian Dor 83217 (1999)^[4]
• Dover, Connie. The Border of Heaven, (2000)
• Finest Kind. Lost in a Song, Fallen Angle, (2006)
• Hawker, Ginny; and Kay Justice. Pathway to West Virginia, Pathway, (1988)^[4]
• Lewis, Laurie, (2008)
• Seeger Family. Third Annual Farewell Reunion, Rounder 0313, (1994)^[4]
• Staines, Bill. Going to the West, Red House Records, (1993)^[5]
• Stecher, Jody; and Kate Brislin. Our Town, Rounder 0304, (1993)^[4]
• Watson, Jim. Don't Tell Me, I Don't Know, Barker 1218, (1999)^[4]

Further reading

• Remembering The Old Songs: I'M GOING TO THE WEST by Lyle Lofgren (Originally published: Inside Bluegrass, July 2003)
• Archival materials at the University of Alabama, Byron Arnold collection, 1939-1977, 8.2 linear feet

References

1. The Folksongs of Alabama by Byron Arnold (U. of Alabama, 1950) page 23
2. Cornbread Crumbled in Gravy: Historical Alabama Field Recordings from the Byron Arnold Collection of Traditional Tunes
3. McCarthy, William Bernard. "An Alabama Songbook: Ballads, Folksongs, and Spirituals Collected by Byron Arnold (review)." Journal of American Folklore 123.489 (2010): 366-367.
4. Folk Music - An Index to Recorded and Print Resources by Jane Keefer
5. Bill Staines Going to the West online liner notes