Research Catalog

Title

DeFord Bailey : a Black star in early country music / David C. Morton with Charles K. Wolfe.

Author

Morton, David C., 1945-

Publication

• Nashville, Tennessee : Country Music Foundation Press, 2023
• ©2023

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Wolfe, Charles K.

Description

xxiii, 199 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

Bailey is largely forgotten today, a victim of the recording industry's emphasis on the blues during the 1920s--a decision which segregated forever "black" folk music from "white" folk music. Bailey was from an African American mountain culture that shared much of its musical heritage with its Anglo-Saxon neighbors, producing a unique hybrid which Bailey called "black hillbilly." A virtuoso on the harmonica, guitar, and banjo, Bailey became one of the Grand Old Opry's earliest stars during the 1920s, only to be fired from the Opry in 1941 during one of the Opry's more repressive eras. Bailey's story is told mainly in his own words through interviews conducted by his longtime friend Morton, with Wolfe (English and folklore, Middle Tennessee State Univ.) providing cultural and historical background. The authors' stated goal was to write a book of universal appeal, and indeed the work is a fascinating cultural history. -- Library Journal

Subject

• Bailey, DeFord
• Country musicians > Biography
• Harmonica players > United States > Biography
• African American musicians
• Country musicians
• Harmonica players
• United States

Genre/Form

Biographies

Bibliography (note)

• Discography: pages 185-186.
• Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-183), discography, and index.

Contents

Acknowledgments -- Introductions -- The blues is a sad music -- They didn't give me no rattler, they gave me a harp -- That boy's gonna play that harp someday -- I wasn't cut out for most jobs -- The world's pet -- A gold mine walking around on earth -- them songs -- We got their best harp player -- Had some good times together -- The Black and the White -- all wanted to hear the same tune -- They turned me loose to root hog or die -- I knowed I could make it on my own -- We got to meet Jesus someday -- Just playing to four walls and to God -- You have to learn to live with old age -- Appendix : musical selections performed by Bailey -- Sources -- Discography -- Index.

ISBN

• 9780915608393
• 0915608391

OCLC

• on1379832101
• 1379832101
• SCSB-14659285

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library