Thanks.
I don't think there has ever been an issue with your arrangements of songs that are in the PD or long considered traditional or which copyrights were not renewed.
I research our traditional or PD songs via publishers and many other sources to ensure that no one holds ownership other than their arrangement. Many songs that are in the PD are published by the artists that records them; however, that is only for their specific arrangement. I don't think that, for example, recording a Reggae version of a 250 year old folk song would be a cover. And we did that! Cypress Grove has shown up by many artists - many who have copyrighted their interpretations. We first ran into it by the modern bluegrass band Chesapeake. They listed it as traditional and have publishing rights on their rendition. They didn't even mention Jame's name. If you look at it via The Harry Fox agency you'll find find the artists have published their versions - so who knows? But it seems apparent that although originally attributed James there are no issues of infringement with those who have recorded it under their names. However, I would never use the song in any manner w/o giving credit to him. Also several of the verses appear in other songs of that era to further confuse things.

Last edited by Mootsman; 02/26/13 09:01 PM.