My Dixie Darling: A Song History

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"My Dixie Darling" belongs to the repertoire of the Carter Family, the Maces Spring, Virginia, trio of A. P. Carter, his wife Sara and her cousin Maybelle, whose records sold well from 1927 until the early 1940s.[1] The group recorded it for Decca in New York on June 8, 1936 (matrix 61128); the discography lists Sara on lead vocal, autoharp and guitar, Maybelle on guitar and harmony vocal, and A. P. on bass vocal, though a session note in the same entry gives his part as harmony.[2] Decca put it on the ten-inch disc Decca 5240, backed with "Are You Lonesome Tonight," recorded the same day, and the Discography of American Historical Recordings also lists the recording on Decca 46086, the 45-rpm Decca ED-2788 and the LP Decca DL-4044.[2][3] That discography names no composer for the 1936 recording, but the label of a later Nixa pressing of Lonnie Donegan's cover credits A. P. Carter.[2][4]

A white farmhouse, silo and red barn beside a winding road under a full moon

Daniel Koerner, Farm in Moonlight, gouache on board, 1938. An American farm by moonlight, painted in 1938; it has no connection to the song.

Donegan's version, released on Pye Nixa N15108, entered the UK singles chart on October 17, 1957, climbed to number 10 and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks.[5]

Elwood Donnelly arranges it in DAD tuning as one of the Carter Family songs in Such Singing You Will Hear, a 35-song, 92-page book he compiled after long study of the group's recordings and memorabilia, with notes for the dulcimer player, the accompanist and the singer.[1]

Our book that contains the song "My Dixie Darling"

Sources

  1. Elwood Donnelly: "Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family".
  2. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Decca matrix 61128. My Dixie darling / Carter Family".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Decca 5240 (10-in. double-faced)".
  4. Internet Archive (Great 78 Project): "My Dixie Darling," Lonnie Donegan and His Skiffle Group, Nixa N-15108 (New Zealand pressing).
  5. Official Charts: "My Dixie Darling" by Lonnie Donegan.
  6. Image: Daniel Koerner, Farm in Moonlight, gouache on board, 1938. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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