Jump to content

Dorsey Dixon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dorsey Dixon
Birth nameDorsey Murdock Dixon
Born(1897-10-14)October 14, 1897
Darlington, South Carolina,United States
DiedApril 18, 1968(1968-04-18)(aged 70)
Plant City, Florida,United States
GenresOld-time music,country music
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter,millworker
Instrument(s)Guitar, violin
Years active1930–64
LabelsRCA Victor

Dorsey Murdock Dixon(October 14, 1897,Darlington, South Carolina– April 18, 1968,Plant City, Florida) was an Americanold-timeandcountry musicsongwriter and musician. He was also amillworkerwho spent much of his life working in textile mills inNorthandSouth Carolina.Dixon's best known songs were "Wreck on the Highway",which resulted in a copyright dispute with country musicianRoy Acuff,and "Babies in the Mill", which was about theSoutherntextile industry's exploitation ofchild laborin the early 20th century.

Biography

[edit]

Dixon was born on October 14, 1897, inDarlington, South Carolina.He was one of seven children, all of whom, together with their father, worked at the localtextile mill,Darlington Cotton Manufacturing Company.[1]Dixon left school at the age of twelve to start working at the mill; his younger brother Howard started at the age of ten, and their sister Nancy began working there as aspinnerat the age of eight.[2]Dixon's family and friends encouraged homemade music and he quickly picked up the traditional and sentimental songs they sang. A family friend and school teacher gave Dixon violin lessons and by the time he was 14 he could also play the guitar.[1]DuringWorld War I,Dixon and his brother Howard were employed by theAtlantic Coast Line Railroadin Darlington assignalmen,but lost their jobs in 1919 along with thousands of mill workers. Dorsey found work for a while at a mill inLancaster, South Carolina,before moving toEast Rockingham, North Carolina,in 1927 to work at the Aleo Mill. Dixon's parents and Nancy and Howard also moved to East Rockingham to join him. There Dixon married fellow mill worker Beatrice Lucele Moody, later having four children with her.[1]

In 1929 Dixon tried his hand at composition, writing a poem about a school house fire. When Howard and his mother noted that the words could be sung to a popular hymn at the time, "Life's Railway to Heaven", Dixon began devoting his spare time to composing. His writing often drew on first-hand experiences, particularly the working conditions in the mills. During this period he produced songs like "Weaver's Life", "Spinning Room Blues" and "Weave Room Blues", some of which were sung by millstrikersduring labor unrest in the early 1930s.[1]Dixon and his brother also started performing as a duo at local functions around Rockingham, with Dorsey playing guitar and Howard playing fiddle.[1][2]In 1931 country musicianJimmie Tarltonpassed through East Rockingham and so impressed the Dixon brothers that they changed their performances. Howard switched from fiddle toHawaiian guitarand Dorsey played his guitar with a "unique finger-picking style".[1]Interest in the duo grew in 1934 when they started performing regularly on J. W. Fincher'sCrazy Water Crystals Saturday Night JamboreeonWBT,a radio station inCharlotte, North Carolina.[1][2]

In 1936 anRCA Victorfield crew started recording the Dixon Brothers in Charlotte, and over the next few years a total of 61 songs were released. The Dixon Brothers' records sold well enough that they were able to record during five separate sessions for RCA Victor from 1936 – 1938. During two sessions in 1937 and 1938, Dorsey recorded as a duet with his wife Beatrice. One of his songs, "I Didn't Hear Anybody Pray", about a fatal car accident and recorded by the Dixon brothers in 1938, was recorded as "The Wreck on the Highway" by country musicianRoy Acuffin 1942.[1]Acuff could not remember where he knew the song from, but claimed it as his own.[1]"Wreck on the Highway" became a national country music hit, but Dixon received noroyalties.[1][3]In the mid-1940s, and at his family's insistence, Dixon asked a lawyer to file alawsuitagainst Acuff, and in 1946 anout-of-court settlementwas reached.[1]Dixon was granted ownership of "Wreck on the Highway", a third of the existing $5,000 royalties, and an "undisclosed percentage" of future royalties.[4]Dixon later adopted Acuff's title,[5]and "Wreck on the Highway" became his "best-known and arguably his greatest composition".[6]Bruce Springsteenalso wrote a song called "Wreck on the Highway"in 1980, and although a different song, it borrowed" its title and its melodrama "from Acuff's hit.[7]

Expecting further settlements the Dixon family moved to New York City in 1947 where Dixon worked in aUnion City, New Jerseyrayonfactory, but none were forthcoming and they moved back to East Rockingham.[1]With Dixon's musical career all but over, he continued working at the Aleo Mill until 1951 when he was forced to retire due to his deteriorating eyesight.[5]Dixon and his wife then moved toBaltimore,but they separated in 1953 and he returned to East Rockingham without her.[1]Dixon's brother, Howard continued working in the mills until he died on the job following a heart attack in 1961.[8][9]

Interest in Dixon's music was revived in the late 1950s by students ofhillbillyandwork song.[1]In the early 1960sfolkloristicsArchie Greenand Eugene Earle visited Dixon and helped him record a 19-track album,Babies in the Mill.[10][11]The title track was a new composition by Dixon that was about theSoutherntextile industry's "shameful abuse and exploitation" ofchild laborin the early 20th century.[12][13]They also persuaded him to start performing again and invited him to play at the 1963Newport Folk Festival,[1]where folk singerPete Seegerintroduced Dixon to the audience.[8]Later Dixon was also asked to have his music recorded for theArchive of American Folk Songat the USLibrary of Congress.Dixon's brief musical comeback came to an end in 1964 when he had several heart attacks. He relocated toPlant City, Florida,to live with his son, the Reverend Dorsey Dixon, Jr., where he remained until his death of heart failure at the age 70 on April 18, 1968.[14]In 2000 theCenter for the Study of Southern Culturepublished autobiographical writings of Dixon entitled "I Don't Want Nothin' 'Bout my Life Wrote Out, Because I Had it Too Rough in Life".[2]

Discographical data

[edit]
Year Title Label Number Notes
1973? Beyond Black Smoke Country Turtle CT-6000 Dixon Brothers, notes by Pat Conte
1983 The Dixon Brothers Vol. 1 Old Homestead OHCS-151
1984 The Dixon Brothers Vol. 2 Old Homestead OHCS-164 notes by Ivan Tribe
c.1984 The Dixon Bros.: Ramblin' & Gamblin' Country Turtle CT-6002 notes by Pat Conte with David Crisp
1986 The Dixon Brothers Vol. 3: Early Sacred Songs Old Homestead OHCS-178 notes by John Morris
1987 The Dixon Brothers Vol. 4 Old Homestead OHCS-179 notes by John Norris
1998 Babies in the Mill Testament T-3301 Dorsey, Howard & Nancy Dixon, notes byArchie Green
2000 The Dixon Brothers Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1 (1936) Document DOCD-8046 notes by Keith Briggs
2000 The Dixon Brothers Complete Recorded Works Vol. 2 (1937) Document DOCD-8047 notes by Keith Briggs
2001 The Dixon Brothers Complete Recorded Works Vol. 3 (1937–38) Document DOCD-8048 notes by Keith Briggs
2001 The Dixon Brothers Complete Recorded Works Vol. 4 (1938) Document DOCD-8049 notes by Keith Briggs
2003 How Can a Broke Man Be Happy? Acrobat ACMCD4022 Dixon Brothers
2011 The Dixon Brothers with The Callahan Brothers JSP JSPCD 77113 4-CD set
2012 The Dixon Brothers: A Blessing To People Bear Family BCD16817 4-CD set with 164 page book by Patrick Huber

[15][16]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdefghijklmnoDenatale, Douglas."Dorsey Dixon, 1897–1968".Documenting the American South.RetrievedJune 2,2010.
  2. ^abcdChadbourne, Eugene."Dorsey M. Dixon".AllMusic.RetrievedJune 2,2010.
  3. ^Huber 2008,p. 259.
  4. ^Huber 2008,p. 260.
  5. ^abHuber 2008,p. 261.
  6. ^Huber 2008,p. 237.
  7. ^Marsh, Dave(2004).Bruce Springsteen: two hearts: the definitive biography, 1972–2003.Routledge.p. 233.ISBN0-415-96928-X.
  8. ^abChadbourne, Eugene."The Dixon Brothers".AllMusic.RetrievedJune 2,2010.
  9. ^Huber 2008,p. 291.
  10. ^Huber 2008,p. 218.
  11. ^Huber 2008,p. 267.
  12. ^Huber 2008,p. 269.
  13. ^"Babies in the Mill".Folk Archive.RetrievedJune 2,2010.
  14. ^Huber 2008,p. 271.
  15. ^Wirz, Stefan (April 4, 2017)."Country Turtle Discography".American Music.RetrievedApril 4,2017.
  16. ^Wirz, Stefan (April 4, 2017)."Dixon Brothers Discography".American Music.RetrievedApril 4,2017.

Cited works

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Huber, Patrick; Drowne, Kathleen. "I Don't Want Nothin' 'Bout my Life Wrote Out, Because I Had it Too Rough in Life: Dorsey Dixon's Autobiographical Writings".Southern Cultures(Summer 2000): 94–101.
  • Russell, Tony, and Bob Pinson. Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921–1942 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 321
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dorsey_Dixon&oldid=1245446533"