[Dixielandjazz] A few words about Dixie

[Walker, Maurice]

A few words about Dixie: The following excerpts, only part of the story,
came from the following website: 

http://www.nativeground.com/danemmett.asp
<http://www.nativeground.com/danemmett.asp> 
 
Many of us have forgotten that the tune was composed by Dan Emmett, and that
he first played it on the 5-string banjo while working with Bryant's
Minstrels in 1859. A minstrel musician and performer all his life, Emmett
had a stack of compositions to his credit, including "Turkey In The Straw,"
and "Jordan Am A Hard Road To Travel I Believe," and "Old Dan Tucker."

Mount Vernon, Ohio must seem an unlikely place to be the home of Dan Emmett.
Born on October 29, 1815 . . .

It was during his stint with Bryant's Minstrels that Emmett composed
"Dixie." Although there were varied and often conflicting versions of how
the song was composed, we can probably rely on Emmett's own version of the
song's origin: "I always look upon the song as an accident. One Saturday
night, Dan Bryant requested me to write a walk-around for the following
week. The time allotted me was unreasonably short but not withstanding, I
went to my hotel and tried to think out something suitable, but my thinking
apparatus was dormant; rather than disappoint Bryant, I searched through my
trunk and resurrected the manuscript of "I Wish I Was In Dixie's Land,"
which I had written years before. I changed the tune and rewrote the verses,
and in all likelihood, if Dan Bryant had not made that hurry-up request,
'Dixie' never would have been brought out."
On the evening of April 4, 1859, Bryant's Minstrels first performed the song
Dixie's Land on the stage at Mechanic's Hall. The song was an instant hit,
and went on to become the most famous song produced in that era. 
. . .

(end of excerpts)

So, fans, "Dixie" was written, not in a burst of patriotic fervor, but in
answer to a rush request from the boss.  By a banjo player.  From the North.


Maurie Walker
A banjo player.  From the West.  ;-)