Who are the Dixie Two-Steppers? Options

[t4u]

Dear List,

Here's a question about a band which I can find no information about, anywhere. I've heard a few recordings by a band called the "Dixie Two-Steppers" on Radio Dismuke and like them a lot. The recordings sound like possible transcriptions of a mid-20's radio program, almost certainly for dancing. They aren't the best group, but nevertheless, thier recordings have a certain energy and verve about them. The recordings are almost always medleys consisting of two songs from then recent movies or revues, such as one especially nice medley of "Am I Blue?" and "Liza" from "Showgirl". They are announced clearly at the beginning and end of each number. Does anyone know about this great but little-known band? One possibility is that "Dixie Two-Steppers" may be a recording pseudonym used by a little-known dance orchestra.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Have a good weekend,
Henry

[Fredrik]

The Dixie Two-Steppers are not listed in Brian Rust's "The American Dance Band Discography", neither in the same author's "Jazz Records", which suggests that the band in question is

a. indeed very obscure, or
b. not American

Or both the above...

Fredrik

[t4u]

The first possibility is quite likely, considering that they don't have the most professional sound. Again, the fact that they sound like a radio orchestra could mean that they are a less obscure band playing under an on-air pseudonym.

They don't sound foreign to me due to the announcer's speech, which sounds like either an East Coast accent or a fairly upper-class southern one. However, it could be a clipped British accent masquerading as American, but the chances of that are fairly small.

Any ideas?

Best,
Henry

[Casaloma]

After a lot of searching through dusty bins, I located a transcription by the Dixie Two-Steppers, circa 1929. Apparently this was a band assembled for the recording from the Ray Miller Orch. and featured such great talent as Muggsy Spanier, Eddie Lang and vocals by a Mary Williams.
The program was sponsored by the Meadows Manufacturing Co. of Bloomington, Il and recorded at WGN Chicago. The sponsor made washing machines. The MC went under the commercially-convenient name of Sunny Meadows.
In addition to Am I Blue & Liza medley, the disc contains the following tunes: Painting The Clouds With Sunshine & Lonesome Little Doll; For Someone I Love & Orange Blossom Time; Little By Little & Waiting At The End Of The Road; Can't We Be Friends & Moanin' Low; Is It Spain & A Most Remarkable Girl.

[Casaloma]

After a lot of searching through dusty bins, I located a transcription by the Dixie Two-Steppers, circa 1929. Apparently this was a band assembled for the recording from the Ray Miller Orch. and featured such great talent as Muggsy Spanier, Eddie Lang and vocals by a Mary Williams.
The program was sponsored by the Meadows Manufacturing Co. of Bloomington, Il and recorded at WGN Chicago. The sponsor made washing machines. The MC went under the commercially-convenient name of Sunny Meadows.
In addition to Am I Blue & Liza medley, the disc contains the following tunes: Painting The Clouds With Sunshine & Lonesome Little Doll; For Someone I Love & Orange Blossom Time; Little By Little & Waiting At The End Of The Road; Can't We Be Friends & Moanin' Low; Is It Spain & A Most Remarkable Girl.
Jim

[rocky]

There's some Sunny Meadows programs featuring Ray Miller at the redhotjazz site. You even get to hear Ray Miller chatting with the radio announcer. The only vocalist who is introduced is Mary Williams; she's a blues singer.

These line recordings are available at the Redhotjazz site under "Ray Miller and his Orchestra" directly following the alphabetic list of songs.

[dismuke]

After a lot of searching through dusty bins, I located a transcription by the Dixie Two-Steppers, circa 1929.  Apparently this was a band assembled for the recording from the Ray Miller Orch. and featured such great talent as Muggsy Spanier, Eddie Lang and vocals by a Mary Williams.
 

Yes - this is absolutely correct. The recordings come from old radio transcriptions which were reissued on LP in 1975 by Sunbeam Records. The LP album is called "The Sunny Meadows Radio Show - 1929" and the catalog number is Sunbeam MFC-14. Those interested might want to do a search of online Internet record dealers for a copy. Also, if one regularly checks ebay for it, chances are pretty good a copy will eventually turn up. It is a very enjoyable album. There are still a couple of tracks on it that I have yet to feature on Radio Dismuke - so next time I encode some selections from LP reissues, I will be sure to include them.

By the way, the Sunny Meadows/Dixie Two Steppers transcriptions are among a very small handful of late 1920s radio programs that are known to exist. Quite a lot of old radio broadcast material from 1935 on still survives. However, the further back you go before 1935, the less there is that survives.

Sorry I didn't jump into the thread earlier as I could have easily answered the question without making it necessary to dig through your bins. Unfortunately, the past several days have been a bit hectic so I wasn't checking in on the board.

[t4u]

Dear Dismuke and Forum,

Thanks for all your information. I had actually been searching through 78's for any numbers by the Dixie Two-steppers, but it's good to know that they are available on LP. For the past few months, I've been attempting to chronicle 20's dance and radio bands, with the ultimate goal of creating an amateur compilation which captures some of the zietgiest of the period. Now here's a technical question- is there any way of converting LP to digital files without advanced equipment? For 78's and cylinders, I've made tape recordings and had a friend transfer them to CD. Needless to say, the sound quality is pretty awful.

Even better, does anyone have quicktime files of the Dixie Two-steppers which they would be willing to share?

Thanks again for all the input!

Henry

[dismuke]

Now here's a technical question- is there any way of converting LP to digital files without advanced equipment?

Sure. All you really have to do is get some cables and connect your stereo system to the Line In jack of your sound card. Go to Radio Shack and they will be able to point out the specific cables you will need. If your stereo system has a "line out" or "tape out" jack, I would recommend using that to connect to the sound card as it will be quieter than the speaker jacks. You will need to get a software program that will enable you to record .wav files - and my guess is you can probably find several for little money or for free by doing a search at http://tucows.com In fact, last time I looked, there were several software programs there specifically designed for recording LPs to one's hard drive. Or, if this is something you might want to do on a regular basis, I would consider getting DC-art Go to: http://diamondcut.com Once you have recorded the music to .wav files, you will then need a software program to convert them to whatever format you wish - i.e. mp3, Real Audio, Quicktime, CD-R etc.

[t4u]

Dear Board,

I recently found a copy of the "Sunny Meadows" LP on eBay, but failed to place my bid before the auction closed. Oh, well. It was too bad, but hopefully another will come up soon. When I do find a copy and convert it to digital files, I'll be sure to post them so everyone can hear this great yet all but forgotten band.

Thanks for your help and advice!
Henry

[coonsanders]

hi guys
I just got a copy of this sunny meadows radio show with ray miller..ands the even better news is that its never opened..brand new..ah god is good..lol

lenny