Lyric discussion by Illogical_Toaster 

Cover art for Take 'Em Away lyrics by Old Crow Medicine Show

One of the cool things about this song is that it's vague enough that it could be either a poor white farmer or a black slave or sharecropper. It applies to all the beaten-down Southern workers.

@Illogical_Toaster I would also add that there is a correctional facility in grimes county in this region between the Brazos and Navasota River. It specializes in manual labor of the farm land. So it could even be a modern story but from the point of view of an prisoner.