ROOTS of Country Music

The Deford Bailey Story

(Dec. 14, 1899 ~ Jul. 2, 1982)

DeFord Bailey was a country music star from the 1920s until 1941 and the first performer on the Grand Ole Opry. Bailey played several instruments but is best known for his harmonica tunes.

Deford Bailey was born near the Bellwood community in Smith County, Tennessee (TN) and learned to play the harmonica at the age of three.  Bailey overcame polio early in his life. His back was deformed and he never grew taller than four feet, ten inches. His mother died when he was a baby and his father's sister and her husband raised him. Stricken with infantile paralysis at the age of three, the bedridden child was given a harmonica as a means of amusement. Bailey’s skill with the harmonica and his musical talent gained him a reputation in the field of country music. 

In 1925, Bailey won second place with his rendition of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More in a French harp contest on radio station WDAD. Then he made his first appearance on WSM Radio (Nashville, TN), after overcoming some racial opposition from the station's director. From that point on he was given the title Harmonica Wizard. Mr. Bailey played a role in the naming of the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1926, the WSM Barn Dance followed an hour of symphonic music and one evening its programming concluded with a selection by a young composer from Iowa reproducing the sound of a train. Bailey opened the country music program with his rendition of Pan American Blues.

The difference in the musical genres caused the director, George D. "Judge" Hay, to observe, "For the past hour we have been listening to music taken largely from grand opera; from now on we will present 'The Grand Ole Opry.'"  

Bailey was dismissed by the Opry in 1941 allegedly for refusing to learn new tunes after a licensing issue prohibited him from performing his favorite songs on the Opry, but he maintained that the real reason was racial prejudice. He never forgave the Opry for this and was reduced to shining shoes for a living. Mr. Bailey made a brief television appearance on a blues show in the 1960s but rejected other offers he received. In April of 1982, he made his last appearance at the Opry playing Pan American Blues on an old-timers show.

Deford Bailey was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Feb. 15, 2012.