“Little Willie” is a traditional song of a girl who is abandoned by the man she ran away with. When she was sixteen, Willie asked her to go with him and be his wife. Once they were far from her home, he told her to go back, because she could never be his wife. She thinks of her kind mother, who loved her, and asks why he has left her there; he says it is in his nature to ramble, and he bids the wide world goodbye.
The Stanley Brothers recorded it at King Studio in Cincinnati on 15 January 1961, with Ralph Stanley singing lead, Carter Stanley on guitar, Curley Lambert on mandolin, Art Stamper on fiddle and George Shuffler on bass; King released it that year on The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys Sing the Songs They Like Best, with the arrangement credited to Ralph and Carter Stanley. Ralph Stanley recorded it again, and Patty Mitchell sang it on Clinch Mountain Sweethearts (Rebel, 2001). Alan O’Bryant sang it on Home Is Where the Heart Is (Rounder, 1988), with Pat Enright on guitar, David Grisman on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Mark Hembree on bass.
