24 Facts About DeFord Bailey

DeFord Bailey was an American old-time musician and songwriter considered to be the first African American country music star.

DeFord Bailey 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, and becoming, alongside Uncle Dave Macon, one of the program's most famous performers.

DeFord Bailey was the first African-American performer to appear on the show, and the first performer to record his music in Nashville.

DeFord 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.

DeFord Bailey moved from New York to Nashville with relatives in his late teens and was a significant early contributor to Nashville's burgeoning music industry.

DeFord Bailey toured and performed with Roy Acuff and many well-known country artists during the 1930s.

DeFord Bailey 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.

Deford Bailey was born on December 14,1899, near the Bellwood community in Carthage, Smith County, Tennessee.

DeFord Bailey suffered from polio, then called infant paralysis, and was taken in by an aunt named Barbara Lou.

DeFord Bailey learned to play the harmonica and mandolin at the age of three when he contracted polio.

DeFord Bailey's back remained slightly misshapen, and he only grew to be 4 feet, 10 inches.

DeFord Bailey was so short and slender as a teenager that he was mistaken to be an underage child by railroad ticket agents.

In 1918, the family moved to Nashville when Clark Odom got a city job, and DeFord Bailey started to perform locally there as an amateur.

DeFord Bailey's first documented appearances were in 1926 according to The Nashville Tennessean including WDAD on January 14 and WSM on June 19.

Several records by DeFord Bailey were issued in 1927 and 1928, all of them harmonica solos.

DeFord Bailey was a pioneer member of the WSM Grand Ole Opry and one of its most popular performers, appearing on the program from 1927 to 1941.

DeFord 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.

DeFord Bailey then spent the rest of his life running his own shoeshine stand and renting out rooms in his home to make a living.

DeFord Bailey played there on his 75th birthday in December 1974, at the Old Timers Shows, and in April 1982.

DeFord 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.

Bailey's grandson, Carlos DeFord Bailey, has performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

DeFord Bailey himself said that he came from a tradition of "black hillbilly music".

When WSM's power increased to 50,000 watts, DeFord Bailey's influence increased, with harmonica enthusiasts listening to his performances and studying his recordings.

DeFord Bailey was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on November 15,2005.