 By 1921, the band was known as Peg Meyer's Melody Kings and started touring the Mississippi River on the "Majestic" and other riverboats.In the early 1920s Stacy moved to Chicago, where he performed with Paul Mares, leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, playing a genre of jazz which came to be called "Chicago-style".Stacy cites his main influences as Louis Armstrong and especially pianist Earl Hines, who played piano for Armstrong and the Carroll Dickerson band.