Comes from Alabama with a banjo on her knee — by way of Louisiana, her true love for to see

This is a story about the strange intersection of DNA and digital audio, science and song.

Background: I've been fascinated by DNA mapping and identifying relatives since the Human Genome Project was declared complete in 2003. Once Ancestry started offering DNA testing and matches, I was an early adopter. These days, on Ancestry, I have a mere 87,520 genetic relatives, with the most distant one being a half third cousin once removed.

Of those masses, I know 28 people — from my parents, brother, nephew and a couple dozen close cousins. After that, things get murky. Still, I've enjoyed getting messages from distant cousins through the years and figuring out the connection.

In July, I received a message from a woman in Austin who is my third cousin. I had never met her, but when she explai