Walking in tall cotton

Where does the phrase, "walking in tall cotton" come from?

It just does not exist before this famed announcer:

Barber, born in Columbus, Miss., in 1908, started his major-league broadcasting career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934, and lasted there until 1939, when he began broadcasting for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Barber was a New York Yankees broadcaster from 1954-66. He spent time as an author and newspaper columnist before beginning weekly spots on National Public Radio in 1981. ----------- Barber-isms

"Sitting in the catbird seat" (being in an enviable or favorable position).

"Walking in tall cotton" (having things go well).

"Rhubarb" (an argument or heated discussion).

"Tearing up the pea patch" (giving a strong performance, rallying).

"The bases are F.O.B." ("full of Brooklyns," as in "the bases are loaded with Brooklyn Dodgers").

The phrase may have a second and separate derivation, as it also has a different meaning. The US Blues singer Eric Bibb performs a song with this title, and the phrase is used in the sense "unable to get your bearings" - just a simple metaphor, really. Bibb is a black singer from the South of the US (as was his father before him), and is perhaps unlikely to have been signally influenced by baseball jargon.