The Seventy Year History and Copyright Authorship of “Wagon Wheel”

“Wagon Wheel”: you’ve no doubt heard it playing at a bar, you probably sang along to it at a wedding, and you might even have a passionate opinion on which version is best.  It’s so popular some venues banned it from their jukebox and cut it from their karaoke song catalogues.  You know the song, but do you know its history?

The story of “Wagon Wheel” spans over seventy years of American music history, and features contributions from at least four, but possibly six, extraordinarily talented musicians.  Its lyrical history also raises an important question, what does one have to do or contribute to be considered a co-author of a song under US copyright law?