“Deep River” is credited to Paul Williams and Sam Humphrey. Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys recorded it on 17 August 1960 at Bradley Film & Recording Studio in Nashville, with Williams, Martin’s mandolin player, singing the lead. Decca put it out in late 1960 on a single with “What Was I Supposed to Do,” number 31186, with the credit given to Paul Williams.
The lyric is addressed to the river itself. The singer tells it that it is running wild, just like the woman he loves, and that, like her, it never stops running and is always on the go. Feeling low, he says he can’t go on, and is going to dive to the river’s bottom and not come up. If he had a big boat, he would let the river rock him to sleep and would anchor somewhere downstream in the “port of broken dreams.”
Bill Emerson, Cliff Waldron and the Lee Highway Boys released it as a single on Rebel (F 281) in June 1968, backed with “Over Yonder Stands Little Maggie.” It was made at Unity Recording Studio in Washington, D.C., with Waldron on guitar and lead vocal, Emerson on banjo and tenor, Mike Auldridge on Dobro and baritone, Bill Poffinberger on fiddle and Ed Ferris on bass. Rebel included it on Emerson & Waldron’s LP Bluegrass Country in 1970.
Later recordings include the Hotfoot Quartet’s, made in March 1984 at Highland Studios in Delmont, Pennsylvania, for the album Dog Bite Your Hide, with Bob Frank singing lead, and Livewire’s on Wired! (Rounder, 1990).
