Ballad source/Tune family of HEAVENLY ARMOR?

[Will Fitzgerald]

I'm really bad at understanding so-called tune families, but I was listening to a folk music stream (Classic Folk with Mike Norris), and he was playing "Murder in the Red Barn" by False Lights (Spotify link), the tune of which is "the same as" HEAVENLY ARMOR. Mainly Norfolk has a number of listings for this ballad under different names, and has this note about Billy List's version:

Unlike most singers, who use a tune related to the carol Dives and Lazarus (also known as The Star of the County Down), Billy sings his version of the song to the tune that is usually associated with the song The Banks of the Sweet Dundee.

So, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on the "tune family" HEAVENLY ARMOR comes from? William Walker is credited with the tune in Denson, Cooper, Christian Harmony. 

All best,

Will

[David Warren Steel]

I'm no expert on "tune families," but if HEAVENLY ARMOR (by Walker, 1828) is part of a ballad tune family, then HALLELUJAH (also by Walker) is part of the same family, and as close as the False Lights tune, except for the mood of time... ---Warren

[Antonio James Higgins]

HALLELUJAH and HEAVENLY KING also have some similarities to PLEASANT HILL, which may have been "published" one year earlier in 1819 with the David Allebach Manuscript as "SALUM". I've currently reached out the the Mennonite Heritage Center-- but I suspect we do have a folk tune origin, possibly German or English. As far as HEAVENLY ARMOR and Murder in the Red Barn, I agree with Will Fitzgerald-- it just has some syncopation. I only hear a little resemblance to The Banks of Sweet Dundee, however.

Sincerely,

Antonio J. Higgins