“He Died a Rounder at Twenty-One” was written by Jimmy Skinner, a Kentucky-born singer and songwriter. The song has been recorded across country and bluegrass.
The song is a cautionary tale told in a rounder’s own terms. A young man drinks, smokes, and chases women with a reckless bravado — whiskey for his liver, cigarettes for his lungs — and the lyric follows him to an early grave, dying just short of his twenty-first birthday.
The song’s mix of dark humor and warning kept it in the bluegrass repertoire. The version heard here is by Junior Sisk.
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