DeFord Bailey
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DeFord Bailey (December 14, 1899 – July 2, 1982) was an American
old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dance, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering ...
ian and songwriter considered to be the first African American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
star. He started his career in the 1920s and was one of the first performers to be introduced on Nashville radio station WSM's
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
, and becoming, alongside Uncle Dave Macon, one of the program's most famous performers. He was the first African-American performer to appear on the show, and the first performer to record his music in Nashville. Bailey played several instruments in his career but is best known for playing the
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
, often being referred to as a "harmonica wizard". Bailey was born and raised in Tennessee, all his family played "black hillbilly" country and blues music and he learned how to play the harmonica and mandolin while recuperating from polio as a young child. He moved from New York to Nashville with relatives in his late teens and was a significant early contributor to Nashville's burgeoning music industry. Among the first generation of entertainers to perform live on the radio, his recorded compositions were well-known and popular. Bailey toured and performed with Roy Acuff and many well-known country artists during the 1930s. But as a result of the 1941 royalties disagreement between Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
(ASCAP), he was fired by WSM and stopped making his living as an entertainer. Afterwards, he supported himself and his family by opening a shoe shining company and renting out rooms in his home. He returned to sporadic public performances in 1974 when he was invited to participate in the Opry's first Old-Timers show and in 2005 was posthumously inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
.


Early life

Deford Bailey was born on December 14, 1899, near the Bellwood community in
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, Smith County, Tennessee. At least one of his grandfathers had been enslaved. All of his family was involved in music. A grandfather was a fiddler, and his mother, who died when he was about a year old, played guitar. Another brother learned banjo. Bailey suffered from polio, then called infant paralysis, and was taken in by an aunt named Barbara Lou. He learned to play the
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
and mandolin at the age of three when he contracted
polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
. While he was ill, Bailey was confined to bed for a year and could only move his head and arms. His style of playing the harmonica took root during that time, as he imitated the sounds of the natural world around him and of the trains traveling through the countryside. Though Bailey did recover from his bout with polio, there were some long-term consequences. His back remained slightly misshapen, and he only grew to be 4 feet, 10 inches. He was so short and slender as a teenager that he was mistaken to be an underage child by railroad ticket agents. His foster father, Clark Odom, was hired as a manager for a farm near Nashville, and in 1908 the family made the move from Smith County. The Odoms and their foster son lived on Nashville and Franklin Tennessee farms Clark Odom managed for several years. In 1918, the family moved to Nashville when Clark Odom got a city job, and Bailey started to perform locally there as an amateur.


Career

Bailey's first radio appearance was apparently in September 1925 on Fred Exum's WDAD, a Nashville station that only lasted from 1925 until sometime in 1927. His first documented appearances, however, were in 1926 according to '' The Nashville Tennessean'' including WDAD on January 14 and WSM on June 19. On December 10, 1927, he debuted his trademark song, "Pan American Blues" (named for the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...
's '' Pan-American''), on a program then known as the ''WSM Barn Dance''. At that time ''Barn Dance'' aired after NBC's classical music show, the ''Music Appreciation Hour''. While introducing Bailey, WSM station manager and announcer George D. Hay exclaimed on-air, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music largely from Grand Opera, but from now on, we will present 'The Grand Ole Opry.'" "Pan American Blues" was the first recording of a harmonica blues solo. Several records by Bailey were issued in 1927 and 1928, all of them harmonica solos. In 1927 he recorded for Brunswick Records in New York City, In 1928 he made the first recordings in Nashville, eight sides for
RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
, three of which were issued on the Victor, Bluebird, and RCA labels. Emblematic of the ambiguity of Bailey's position as a recording artist is the fact that his arguably greatest recording, " John Henry", was released by RCA separately in both its "race" series and its "hillbilly" series. In addition to his well-known harmonica, Bailey also played the guitar, bones, and banjo. Bailey was a pioneer member of the WSM ''
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
'' and one of its most popular performers, appearing on the program from 1927 to 1941. During this period he toured with major country stars, including Uncle Dave Macon,
Bill Monroe William Smith Monroe ( ; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre takes its n ...
, and Roy Acuff. Acuff later said "I was an unknown when I began touring with DeFord. He could draw a crowd, not me. He helped me get started." Bailey's own article at the Country Music Hall of Fame called him "one of the Grand Ole Opry's most popular early performers and country music's first African American star." Like other Black stars of his day traveling in the
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and
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
, he faced difficulties in finding food and accommodations while on tour because of discriminatory
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...
. Bailey was fired by WSM in 1941 because of a licensing conflict between BMI and ASCAP, which prevented him from playing his best-known tunes on the radio. When he was let go from the Opry, that effectively ended his performance and recording career. Bailey then spent the rest of his life running his own shoeshine stand and renting out rooms in his home to make a living. Though he continued to play the harmonica, he rarely performed publicly. One of his rare performances occurred in 1974, when he agreed to appear on the Opry. This was a special event to mark the Opry leaving the
Ryman Auditorium Ryman Auditorium (originally Union Gospel Tabernacle and renamed Grand Ole Opry House for a period) is a historic 2,362-seat live-performance venue and museum located at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, in the downtown core of Nashville, Tennesse ...
for the
Grand Ole Opry House The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
. This performance became the impetus for the Opry's annual Old Timers' Shows. Afterwards, Bailey continued to perform at the Opry only occasionally. He played there on his 75th birthday in December 1974, at the Old Timers Shows, and also in April 1982. A few months later that year, in June, he was taken to Nashville's Baptist Hospital in failing health. Bailey died from kidney and heart failure on July 2, 1982, at his daughter's home in Nashville, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery there.


Family

Bailey's family were also in the music business. His son, also named DeFord Bailey and called DeFord Bailey Jr was a well-known musician in Nashville. At one time his band included
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
as a guitarist. Bailey's grandson, Carlos DeFord Bailey, has performed at the
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
.


Influence and posthumous accolades

Bailey himself said that he came from a tradition of "black hillbilly music". His family members had played a variety of instruments, including a grandfather who had been a well-known local fiddler in Smith County, Tennessee. He said later when referring to playing the harmonica when he was growing up "Oh, I wore it out trying to imitate everything I hear! Hens, foxes, hounds, turkeys, and all those trains and things on the road. Everything around me." Along with performing well-known genre classics such as "Cow-Cow Blues", Bailey also wrote his own signature Opry songs, like the train-imitating "Pan American Blues" and the "Dixie Flyer Blues". When WSM's power increased to 50,000 watts, Bailey's influence also increased, with harmonica enthusiasts listening to his performances and studying his recordings. 2005 Nashville Public Television produced the documentary ''DeFord Bailey: A Legend Lost''. The documentary was broadcast nationally through PBS. Bailey was inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
on November 15, 2005. The DeFord Bailey Tribute Garden at the
George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American Agricultural science, agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent bla ...
Food Park in Nashville was dedicated on June 27, 2007. The ''Encyclopedia of Country Music'' called him "the most significant black country star before World War II." Bailey is still being referred to as a "harmonica wizard" more than three decades after his death.


Discography


78 rpm singles

''Listing sourced from the University of Santa Barbara Library/American Discography Project's Discography of American Historical Recordings'' * "Evening Prayer Blues" / "Alcoholic Blues" (Brunswick, 1927) * "Muscle Shoal Blues" / "Up Country Blues" (Brunswick, 1927) * "Dixie Flyer Blues" / "Pan American Blues" (Brunswick, 1927) * "Fox Chase" / "Old Hen Cackle" (Vocalion, 1928) * "Ice Water Blues" / "Davidson County Blues" (Victor, 1929) * "John Henry" / "Like I Want To Be" (split single with Noah Lewis Jug Band) (Victor 23336, 1932) * "John Henry" / "Chester Blues" (split single with D. H. Bilbro) (Victor 23831, 1933)


Albums

* ''The Legendary DeFord Bailey'' (Tennessee Folklore Society, 1998) (recorded 1974–1976)


References


Sources

*


External links


Bailey's biographer's site, with audio and photos

Samples of DeFord Bailey's recordings

The PBS documentary



The Unsung Black Musician Who Changed Country Music
''Narratively'', January 23, 2020
The Encyclopedia of Country Music – ''Deford Bailey'' Chapter, Pages 24–25 (David C. Morton)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Deford 1899 births 1982 deaths American country harmonica players Grand Ole Opry members Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Members of the Country Music Association People from Smith County, Tennessee African-American country musicians Country musicians from Tennessee African-American songwriters Songwriters from Tennessee