"Dixie", also known as "Dixie's Land", "I Wish I Was in Dixie", and other titles, is a song about the Southern United States first made in 1859. It is one of the most distinctively Southern musical products of the 19th century. It was not a folk song at its creation, but it has since entered the American folk vernacular. The song likely rooted the word "Dixie" in the American vocabulary as a nickname for the Southern U.S.
Dixie (song)
Detail from a playbill of the Bryant's Minstrels depicting the first part of a walkaround, dated December 19, 1859
"I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land" sheet music
Detail from a playbill for Bryant's Minstrels at April 4, 1859, premiere of "Dixie", Mechanics' Hall, New York City
Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region, or the extent of the area it covers, most definitions include the U.S. states below the Mason–Dixon line that seceded and comprised the Confederate States of America, almost always including the Deep South. The term became popularized throughout the United States by songs that nostalgically referred to the American South.
Bayou Navigation in Dixie, engraving of a Louisiana Steamboat, 1863
C.D. Blake's I'se Gwine Back To Dixie and other similar songs included the usage of Dixie nostalgically.