Gunning remembered the melody from a 78-rpm hillbilly record (Emry Arthur, 1928) she had heard some years before in the mountains, but the lyrics she wrote was considerably different from the original after the first verse. The change of gender is also found in Joan Baez's ``Girl of Constant Sorrow'' and another variant of the song similar to Baez's, Judy Collins's title song from her album A Maid of Constant Sorrow.
Joan Baez
Judy Collins