<P> The oldest known recording of the song , under the title `` Rising Sun Blues '' , is by Appalachian artists Clarence `` Tom '' Ashley and Gwen Foster , who recorded it for Vocalion Records on September 6 , 1933 . Ashley said he had learned it from his grandfather , Enoch Ashley . Roy Acuff , an `` early - day friend and apprentice '' of Ashley 's , learned it from him and recorded it as `` Rising Sun '' on November 3 , 1938 . Several older blues recordings of songs with similar titles are unrelated , for example , `` Rising Sun Blues '' by Ivy Smith ( 1927 ) and `` The Risin ' Sun '' by Texas Alexander ( 1928 ) . </P>
oldest recording of house of the rising sun
under the title `` Rising Sun Blues '' , is by Appalachian artists Clarence `` Tom '' Ashley and Gwen Foster , who recorded it for Vocalion Records on September 6 , 1933