Dixie Mountaineers

The following info was sent by Norma Axsom Zanetti, accompanying this photo:

My Daddy was John Lloyd Axsom, Sr. When I was a little girl, he played with a bluegrass band called the Dixie Mountaineers. I can remember the group getting together to practice at our house when we lived on Merriman Street in Draper. I was shy and would hide behind the door and peek through the crack to watch them play.

I also remember listening to the Dixie Mountaineers on the radio - WLOE.

Daddy died in 1964. Soon after his death, Joe Searcy and others got together and had one 33 1/3 recording made from some of the old 78's made at WLOE. They chose 8 songs. The first two are instrumental. I don't know why they chose those two songs because the quality is really poor. The other songs are scratcy, but better than the two instrumentals.

I had a tape made from the 33 1/3 record and several other people did the same thing. When I visited Leaksville.com a few months ago, I found a picture of the Spray Police Department that Herman Searcy contributed. I e-mailed Herman and he sent me a copy of the picture. He also told me that he had the Dixie Mountaineer's music on CD. I asked him to mail me a copy. He was kind enough to do so. The CD he sent had the original 8 songs, but it also had a Charlie Poole song and another song I wasn't sure was by the Dixie Mountaineers. I decided to copy the original 8 songs because they were the ones chosen by Joe Searcy and Daddy's other friends. Then I decided it would be nice to design an album cover. My brother had some old pictures that I remember while growing up - one was of the Dixie Mountaineers. I thought that would make a good cover. And, I wanted to identify the songs and those in picture - something to keep intact and pass on to family members and friends.

Sincerely,

Norma Zanetti

Axsom Family Page
http://home.triad.rr.com/zanetti