Today on Midpoint, we talk with Sarasota-based musician John Sims, whose latest album the AfroDixie Remixes contains a reimagined versions of the American classic “I wish I was in Dixie”, a song written in the mid 1800’s by Daniel Decatur Emmett. It was once considered the anthem of the South, but is now considered offensive for its association with the Confederacy and origins in blackface minstrelsy. Sims reconciles the song’s controversial origins by recreating it within the context of black music genres including Gospel and Hip-Hop.
