What you see here, the liberal borrowing and disputed authorship, was most common at that time. Two very good Minstrel antebellum examples where multiples of same, similar or same in title only, published within a year of each other were the popular tunes "Old Tare River" and "Mary Blane." And the tune juxtaposed above; "Out de Wilderness," is a model of song evolved or "borrowed" from "Down in Alabam" into "old Gray Mare" and "Jine the Cavalry."

There is a story that Stephen Foster's brother caught Nelson Kneass at the post office trying to copyright Stephen's performance of the night before that had not yet published. So don't be mislead by this horse and buggy era- the musicians all had big ears and paid attention. That is why the 100-year argument begun by Harris that Minstrelsy was a totally white invention having nothing to do with slave influence, is contrived or even absurd.

Hence, the other intriguing question about the Snowdens is how much they were influenced by Emmett; and Sachs never even discusses it.

You guys know the folk process is a continuum; and it flows both ways.

And if you can ascertain the origin of the word Dixie then you can try also "Yankee" or maybe even "Jazz"