The Hills Of Roane County chords by Townes Van Zandt

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Chorus:

C                Em    F      G              C
In the beautiful hills in the midst of Roane Country
                                        G    G7
It's there that I labored my whole life away
                    C         G            F
It’s there that my heart is a-turnin' most ever
               C              G            C    F   C
It's there the first steps of misfortune I made


Verse 1:

C                Em     F     G            C
I’s about thirty years when I courted and married
                                   G    G7
Miss Armanda Gilbert to be my fair wife
                  C     G                C
For some unknown reason, her brother Tom stabbed me
                   C       G               C    F    C
And not two months later, I'd taken Tom's life


Verse 2:

C                 Em   F    G          C
I's captured and tried in a village of Kingsport
                                       G    G7
Not a soul in that village could say a kind word
                  C  G   F                 C
When a jury come in with the verdict next mornin'
               C                G            C    F   C
"A lifetime in prison," are the words that I heard


[Verse 3}

C                 Em   F  G             C
Well my mama come down to see me at the station
                                         G   G7
My sweet sister Donna stood there by her side
                   C  G                         F
They turned for to go, but I was chained to the platform
                        C              G          C      F  C
They said, "Willie, God bless you, God bless you, goodbye"


Verse 4:

C                    Em    F                 C
In the scorching hot sands of a foundry, I'm toiling
                                         G  G7
Just a-toilin' and sweatin' my poor life away
                 C  F                   C
When I die, bury me on the banks of old Cumberland
                        C       G     C      F    C
In the beautiful green hills of east Tennessee


Verse 5:

                 Em    F      G              C
In the beautiful hills in the midst of Roane Country
                      C                    G   G7
It’s there that I’ve labored my whole life away
                   C     G                 F
It's there that my heart is a-turnin’ most ever
                     C        G            C    F    C
It's there the first steps of misfortune I made