<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> <P> "Tom Dooley" is a North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina, allegedly by Tom Dula . The song is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio . This version was a multi-format hit, which reached #1 in Billboard and the Billboard R&B listing, and appeared in the Cashbox Country Music Top 20 . It fits within the wider genre of Appalachian "sweetheart murder ballads". </P> <P> The song was selected as one of the American Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc . Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time . </P>

Who sang hang down your head tom dooley