The Hills Of Roane County

Stanley Brothers

Traditional

Key of C · Chords: I IV V

Verse 1

C                          F             C
In the beautiful hills way back in Roane Country
                                     G7
There's where I roamed for many long years
                 C            F            C
There's where my heart's been tending most ever
                               G7           C
That's where the first step of misfortune I made

Verse 2

                              F           C
I was thirty years old when I courted and married
                                          G7
When Armanda Gilbreath was then called my wife
                    C      F            C
Her brother stabbed me for some unknown reason
                            G7          C
Just three months later I'd taken Tom's life

Verse 3

                           F             C
For twenty five years this whole world I rambled
                                       G7
I went to old England to France and to Spain
                    C        F             C
And I thought of my home way back in Roane Country
                        G7          C
I boarded a steamer and I come back again

Verse 4

                                F          C
I was captured and tried in the village of Kingston
                                            G7
Not a man in the country would speak a kind word
                   C           F            C
When the jury came in with the verdict next morning
                             G7           C
A lifetime in prison was the words that I heard

Verse 5

                               F            C
When the train pulled out poor mother stood weeping
                                G7
And sister she sat alone with a sigh
        C                      F          C
And the last words I heard was Willie God bless you
                               G7            C
Cause Willie God bless you God bless you goodbye

Verse 6

                           F           C
No matter what happened to me in Roane County
                                   G7
No matter how long my sentence may be
  C                    F             C
I love my old home way back in Roane County
                          G7        C
It's way back down in old east Tennessee

Verse 7

                           F         C
Sweet Martha was grave but Corey was better
                                          G7
There's better and worse although you can see
     C                            F         C
Boys when you write home from the prison in Nashville
                              G7         C
Place one of my songs in your letter for me