According to Don Tyler in his 2007 book Hit Songs 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era, "The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine" appears "at first glance to be a 'cowboy' song, but it is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia." It was inspired by a novel of the same name.

The words were written by Ballard MacDonald and the music was composed by Harry Carroll. Tyler adds: "Muriel Window interpolated the song into The Passing Show of 1914".

It was recorded by Henry Burr and Albert Campbell, and was also performed by Laurel & Hardy in the 1937 film Way Out West.

The English-born Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and his American partner Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) first worked together on the silent film The Lucky Dog which was released in 1921, but they are best known for their early "talkies" in which the overweight Hardy played the constantly flummoxed straight man to his stringbean dimwit friend. They were immensely popular both at the time and into the 21^st Century, and their names have become a by-word for slapstick comedy.

The Laurel & Hardy version of "The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine" is by far the best known, and the song that first saw the light of day in 1913 was a surprise posthumous hit for them in the UK in 1975 when it was released as a single on United Artists backed by "Honolulu Baby". It was number 24 in the top 100 of the year according to one chart. >>