I'll Never Leave Old Dixie Land Again

DESCRIPTION: "Where the Mississippi flowing on the sunny southern shores," the singer, a former slave, returns to Dixie and his beloved Dinah after having spent time in Kansas.The weather was enough to freeze him. He missed his home. He'll never leave Dixie again
AUTHOR: Thomas P. Westendorf? (source: Meade, Spottswood, and Meade
EARLIEST DATE: 1881 (Meade, Spottswood, and Meade
KEYWORDS: homesickness loneliness love home return reunion separation slavery
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Swan-BalladsAndFolkSongsFromMorningSunIowa 36, pp. 82-83, "When the Mississippi Washed on that Southern Sunny Shore" (1 text)
Roud #15470 and 16178
RECORDINGS:
Bogue Ford, "I'll never leave old Dixie land again" (AFS 4211 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Happy Valley Boys, "I'll Never Leave Old Dixieland Again" (Bluebird B8592, 1941)
Peg Moreland, "Going Back to Dixie" (Victor 21653, 1928)
Richard Owen, "Little White-Washed Chimney" (Piotr-Archive #1507, recorded 08/14/2025)
(Tom) Darby & (Jimmie) Tarleton, "All Bound Down in Texas" (Columbia 15477-D, 1930; recorded 1929)
NOTES [80 words]: A minstrel-show song, without a doubt. Ford sings it in dialect.
A significant number of freed slaves did in fact settle in Kansas during the years after the Civil War. - PJS
The Second Hand Songs web site attributes this to Bill Clifton, who recorded it in 1957. He probably "bluegrassed" it, which perhaps would justify an arrangement credit, but obviously the song is older.
Various sources hint that Bradley Kincaid recorded the song, but I have been unable to verify this. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.2
File: RcINLODA

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