[dcab-l] Songs from the South: The New Dixie

 

Music Lovers:

 

Here's a live recording, an original song, recorded at Coolfont, a resort near Berkeley Springs, Md., back in the 90s.

 

The New Dixie, written by my All Mixed Up  partner Barry Wendell, is a rewrite of the classic Dixie, possibly written by Ohio-born Daniel Decatur Emmett; there is much dispute concerning the song's actual author.  The latest challenge to authorship has come on behalf of the Snowden Family of Knox County, Ohio, who may have collaborated with Emmett to write Dixie.  On the cut itself, I mention a reference to a Tin Pan Alley writer.

 

Dixie, also known as I Wish I Was in Dixie, Dixie's Land, and other titles, is a popular American song.  It is one of the most distinctively American musical products of the 19th century, and probably the best-known song to have come out of blackface minstrelsy.  Although not a folk song at its creation, Dixie has since entered the American folk vernacular. The song likely cemented the word "Dixie" in the American vocabulary as a toponym for the Southern United States.

 

And, it's controversial!  Its minstrel lyrics, written in a comic, exaggerated version of African American Vernacular English, tell the story of a freed black slave pining for the plantation of his birth.  During the American Civil War, Dixie was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy.  The song was also a favorite of President Abraham Lincoln: he had it played at some of his political rallies and at the announcement of General Robert E. Lee's surrender.

 

Today, Dixie is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for slavery or racial separation in the American South.  Its supporters, on the other hand, view it as a legitimate aspect of Southern culture and heritage and the campaigns against it as political correctness.

 

In my opinion, Barry's version focuses on a Dixie beginning to change to a new vision, with fresh hope.  My guitar seems more a musical expression of Southern culture and heritage.  Having listened to this song over the years, I believe the audience applause reflects this dichotomy.

 

At start and end, Barry mentions some words putting the rewrite into context.

 

Musicians:

 

  Barry Wendell                 Lead Vocal & Rhythm Guitar

  Greg Nelson                   Bass

  Ed Schaeffer                   Lead Guitar & Harmony

 

To listen, click:       http://rattlesnakehill.org/Web_Music/edsmusic.html

 

I hope you enjoy it!

Ed