I’ll Twine mid the Ringlets is an American song written in 1860, lyrics by Maud Irving and music by Joseph Philbrick Webster. Hardly anyone has heard of it. However, in 1928 the Carter family recorded the tune under a new title, Wildwood Flower. I’ve heard it many times but remain somewhat mystified by the lyrics….

Oh, I’ll twine with my mingles and waving black hair,
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair,
And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew,
The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue.

With lyrics like that, it’s no wonder the song later caught on as a guitar instrumental. Here are the Carter Family performing Wildwood Flower on the Opry. This is a fantastic bit of footage. Folk music enthusiasts in the crowd should be just about drooling with anticipation.

Here is June Carter Cash recording it much later, in 2002, another amazing bit of video.

I’ve known this tune since I was in my teens, but I know it not as Wildwood Flower. Woody Guthrie, who never shied away from appropriating a melody for his own purposes, adapted it for The Sinking of the Reuben James. Here’s Woody…

Finally here’s a fun instrumental version featuring Larry Collins, Joe Maphis and Merle Travis…