When
Roy Acuff recorded his best selling song "Wreck on the Highway"
he fully believed it to be a traditional song. When Dorsey Dixon finally
proved, that he wrote and recorded the song along with his brother Howard
after a traumatic experience on the Highway it was too late and all the
royalities spent.
The
heavy religious aspect in the song also was a trademark of the brothers
who started their career in 1932. They learned many hymns from the singing
of their mother, but rather than pursuing a life long career in music
business they started working as mill hands in a North Carolina cotton
mill, where their sister already worked for half a dollar a week.
Dorsey
Dixon was rediscovered during the Folk Revival and enjoyed a brief carreer
in the 60ies before he died in 1968. His brother passed away seven years
earlier, being a fitter in a mill to the last day of his life.
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