Dixie Hall

Bluegrass songwriter. Born May 26, 1934 in Birmingham, England - died January 16, 2015 in Nashville, TN. She was married to Tom T. Hall. Dixie Hall founded the bluegrass song publishing company Good Home Grown Music in 1998 in Franklin, Tennessee. The company published Hall’s songs, songs she co-wrote, and songs by other bluegrass songwriters. She opened the studio at her (and husband Tom T. Hall’s) Tennessee estate, Fox Hollow, to artists who recorded the company’s songs. Hall pitched her songs to artists through letters, email, phone calls, and in person. She promoted the company at bluegrass festivals and the International Bluegrass Music Association Business Conference. Hall used her company to support women in bluegrass music, particularly through the publishing of female songwriters and release of the Daughters of Bluegrass box sets. “Miss Dixie” Hall was born Iris Violet May Lawrence in Birmingham, England, in 1934. American country and western movies kindled her interest in country music and horses as a child. Under the name Dixie Dean, she began her music business career in England by promoting Tex Ritter and Bill Clifton and the Dixie Mountain Boys to record labels, and writing for Country And Western Express. She moved to the United States in 1961 to take a promotion and publicity job with Starday Records in Nashville. Dean befriended and lived with Maybelle Carter and her family in Madison, Tennessee. She gained early experience managing a music publishing company by starting Flatt & Scrugg Music with Louise Scruggs. At Music City News, Dean rose from a general office worker to writer and editor. Dixie married country songwriter and musician Tom T. Hall in 1964 and stepped back from her career in the music industry. In the late 1990s, Miss Dixie returned to commercial songwriting and publishing after her husband retired from touring. She founded the bluegrass publishing company Good Home Grown Music and record label Blue Circle Records in 1998. Musicians made over 500 recordings of Miss Dixie’s songs during her lifetime, distinguishing her as the most recorded female bluegrass songwriter of all time. BMI song titles are listed under the following names: Dixie Deen - Dixie Hall - Iris Violet May Buswell - Iris V M Hall - Dixie Dean.