Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

BAILEY, DeFord

(b 1899, Carthage TN; d 2 July '82) Harmonica. Polio at age three left slight deformities. He came second in a harp contest with 135 others, played on the radio and became a popular regular on the WSM Barn Dance in 1925 at a time when American popular music still contained a minstrelsy element. He led off a 1927 show with his ‘Pan American Blues' following a broadcast of a classical concert when George D. Hay rechristened the show the Grand Ole Opry. He appeared on 49 of 52 Opry broadcasts in 1928, getting $5 a performance. Described by Hay as 'our mascot', he was crudely dismissed in 1941, alleged unwilling to learn new tunes. For many years he remained the only black ever to have appeared on the show. Recordings included eight sides for Victor in 1928, mostly blues; he may have been the first artist to record in Nashville. He appeared at the Opry in an old-timers show in the year that he died. It was announced in 2005 that he would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.