Biography
DeFord Bailey (December 14, 1899 - July 2, 1982) was a harmonica virtuoso, a blues singer, a guitarist, a banjoist, a composer and a founding member of the WSM Grand Ole Opry.
Bailey performed on WDAD, the first significant Nashville radio station, in 1925. Soon afterwards Dr. Humphrey Bate took him to play his harmonica on the new and much more powerful WSM station. At his first appearance on the "Barn Dance" DeFord immediately impressed the announcer, "the Solemn Old Judge" George Hay, who threw his steamboat whistle high in the air and declared that he was henceforth going to be a regular part of the show.
According to Judge Hay, DeFord was both the inspiration for the naming of the Opry, and the very first performer to play on the newly named show. This occurred in 1927 following a network program with a classical rendition of a locomotive by composer Dr. Walter Damrosch. After hearing the classical version of the train, Hay opened the program by telling the audience that they had been listening to "Grand Opera," but would now hear "Grand Ole Opry" and introduced DeFord Bailey to play his harmonica version of the Pan American train.
Hay called Bailey the "Harmonica Wizard" and arranged for him to be in the very first recording session in the city that later became Music City USA. That was in the fall of 1928 when Victor came to Nashville at Judge Hay's request. DeFord recorded eight tunes in this session that was held in the YMCA building. He had previously recorded tunes in Atlanta and New York City sessions arranged by Hay.
The "Harmonica Wizard" performed virtually every Saturday night on the Opry from 1926 until 1941, a record none of the other performers could match, and he was clearly one of the most popular performers on the show. During this time he also traveled extensively over the South and Mid-West with various Opry performers. These included Uncle Dave Macon, Alton and Rabon Delmore, Arthur Smith, Sam and Kirk McGee, Sarie and Sally, Lasses White and Honey Wilds, Paul Warmack and the Gully Jumpers, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, Curt Poulton and the Vagabonds, Clayton McMichen, Ken Hackley, and later Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe.
DeFord was always well received by the audiences when he performed out on the road; but traveling in the 1920 and 1930s, the hey day of Jim Crow, with the all white groups was exceedingly difficult. In the winter he always carried a wool blanket with him in case he had to sleep in the car when the other performers could not find a place for him to stay. Virtually none of the hotels or restaurants would knowlingly allow him to eat or sleep inside as a guest. Uncle Dave Macon would claim that DeFord was his valet in order to get him inside his room and then bring in a seat from the car for DeFord to sleep on. Some restaurants would let him eat in the kitchen, but usually he would eat outside or in the car.
A victim of the licensing battle between ASCAP and the newly formed BMI in 1941, Bailey was told he could no longer play on WSM the tunes that he had played on the air for over 15 years and had made him famous. Instead he would have to play completely new ones on WSM. He did not fully understand what was going on and his simple reaction was that he would leave the show if he could no longer play his tunes. As a result he was terminated from the program; and although the licensing battle between the two groups was resolved a few months later, this effectively ended his performing career. He continued to play his harmonica on a daily basis and enjoyed entertaining friends and patrons of his shoe shine shop, but he seldom performed publicly after this.
Bailey lived out his later life in a high rise Public Housing building for the elderly in the Edgehill neighborhood of Nashville. This was just blocks from Music Row, headquarters of the entertainment industry he helped to create. While he did not want to dwell on the negative, he was somewhat bitter about his departure from the Opry, and turned down television, film and recording offers in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1974 DeFord made two rare appearances on the Opry. The first at the Ryman Auditorium on February 23 was arranged by his friend David Morton and WSM Executive Jud Collins and became the occasion for the Opry's first annual Old Timers' Show. The second was on December 14, when David Morton convinced DeFord to celebrate his 75th birthday that night by playing at the new Opry house.
In the last nine years of his life, Bailey found a special friend and confidante in David Morton, whom he called his "manager". He wanted Morton, a former history student, to write his "book" and "tell the world the truth" about him. With some assistance from Dr. Charles Wolfe, the biography Morton wrote (and had read word for word to Bailey in its first draft) was finally published in 1991 by the University of Tennessee Press. Morton also recorded many hours of music and conversation with the legendary musician in his small apartment in the 1970s. Many of these tunes were made public in 1998 in a CD issued by the Tennessee Folklore Society. At the time USA Today proclaimed the CD as "one of the most important historical releases of the year."
When DeFord died in 1982, Morton assisted DeFord's daughters Dezoral and Chris in writing their father's obituary; and has continued to maintain close contact with them and their brother Junior, ever since. Pallbearers at DeFord's funeral were not only his grandchildren , but also several white friends including fellow WSM harmonica player Herman Cook, Uncle Dave Macon's grandson and namesake, David Morton, Archie Allen and James Talley.
From the 1970s on Morton was only one of many friends and fans of DeFord who worked together or separately to help tell his "story" and see that he received proper recognition for his most significant role in the history of Country Music. These include musicians James Talley, Ray Steelman and Asshid Himons; civil rights worker and writer Archie Allen; photographers Alan Mayor, Clark Thomas, Les Leverett, Chris Conder and Dennis Wile; "Nashville" editor Tom Ingram; "Lost and Found Sound" producer Davia Nelson and Amy Standen; former shoe shine shop employee Silas Newsom; newspaper reporters Dwight Lewis, Reginald Stuart, Dave Hoekstra, Mike Henderson, and Sue Voyles; television reporter Ann Holt; retired school teachers Annie Ruth Stroud and Cora Robinson; former MDHA directors Jack D. Herrington, Jerry Nicely and employees Frances Douglas, Bob Howard, and Pat White; former NAHRO deputy director Mike Nail; harmonicists Joe Filisko and Ian Beecroft; film producer Kathy Conkwright; radio producer Lex Gillespie; authors Peter Guralnick, Charles Wolfe and Paul Hemphill; UT Press Director Jennifer Siler; State Senator Douglas Henry Jr.; Tennessee Historical Commission staff Linda Wynn; artist J. William Myers; music promoter John Keeton; Director Muata Kenyatta; current and former Country Music Foundation staff Bob Pinson, Alan Stoker, Paul Kingsbury, Charlie Seeman, and Ronnie Pugh; and many others around the country. All of them wanted to see DeFord Bailey in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and have worked over the years to draw attention to his career and his contributions with that in mind!
In November 2005 all of them joined Morton and DeFord's family in rejoicing when they learned that DeFord Bailey had finally been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame! Morton said he would like to think that the "Harmonica Wizard" was also looking down at that time, and playing them all a special tune!