I came across this article that I wrote for the magazine I worked for this summer. Since the magazine only published part of it, here is the rest. This man should be honored by everyone. It's a tad dated as the garden opened in the summer some time, but you get the idea.
“The black and the white – all want to hear the same tune.”
The words of DeFord Bailey will forever be immortalized in country music. An African-American harmonica player, DeFord was the first person to EVER perform on the Grand Ole Opry after it was renamed and one of the first people to be recorded in Music City, USA – Nashville.
This summer, EarthMatters Tennessee, a non-profit group dedicated to organic growing methods, opened the DeFord Bailey Tribute Garden at the George W. Carver Food Park in Nashville. The garden features close to 300 roses – all named after famous songs such as Ring of Fire and Tennessee Waltz, and country stars including Dolly Parton, Amy Grant, Pam Tillis, and the newest addition, DeFord Bailey.
“All of my life, I’ve heard people talk about DeFord Bailey and the great contribution he has made to country music,” says Parton. “He was one of a kind, and his memory will live on forever. A tribute garden in his name is a wonderful idea, and I am so proud to have a Dolly Parton rose in his garden.”
Added to the collection were flowers dedicated to Patsy Cline, Janice Wendell, and Brenda Lee. As Frankie Staton, Urban Country Showcase founder and 25-year music veteran, says, “This garden will serve as a harmonious place to be inspired while sitting among nature and reflecting on the lives of the people honored here – a place to come and be refreshed and inspired. ”
The DeFord Bailey Tribute Garden is part of an effort throughout Nashville to pay much overdue honor to this influential artist. “We can’t care about what we don’t know about it,” says country singer Pam Tillis. “And it’s so important to know about the firsts that DeFord was involved with – the first recording session in Nashville, sang the first song on the Grand Ole Opry. He is such a part of history it’s unbelievable. And more people need to know the DeFord Bailey legacy, it’s so important and this garden is certainly a step in that direction.”
DeFord, called the “Harmonica Wizard” by “Judge” George D. Hays, was always a musician. Born in 1899 in Smith County, Tenn., 40 miles from Nashville, DeFord lost his mother at a very young age. His Aunt Barbara Lou raised him, bestowing upon him his very first harmonica. When he was three, he contracted polio and was bound to the bed for at least a year, only able to use his hands and head. This is where he perfected his harmonica, or as he called it, harp, skills. Lying in bed and listening to the sounds of farm life – from roosters crowing to horses neighing – Bailey began to imitate them, capturing his signature style.
He was especially known for his imitation of trains. “Some people can play the train,” he once said, “but they can’t move like I do. Most of theirs sound like they’re running, but the sound is standing in one place too long. You can tell my train is moving. Every time I blow, you can tell I’m getting further. It’s moving out of sight as I blow. When I get about 115 miles an hour, I can feel it. My normal speed is 95 miles an hour. That don’t feel like I’m doing nothing, but my train sure enough moves along.”
Kathy Conkwright, who researched, wrote and produced a documentary called, “DeFord Bailey: A Legend Lost” in 2005, says that she first became interested in DeFord mainly because he talked about something called “black hillbilly music.”
“Being from the south, I never really attributed – I always thought that country music came from white rural folks,” Conkwright says. “Dr. Charles Wolf at [Middle Tennessee State University] explained to me that African Americans have been singing this musical genre that we now call country roots music for decades. In fact, many of the most influential first country music starts were mentored by African American musicians including Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family.”
DeFord was not only an influence for other performers, but he was also instrumental in naming the Grand Ole Opry. Preceding that night’s show was an opera, with the last song the sounds of a locomotive. As DeFord was the first that night, coming on to play his Pan American Blues, Judge Hays said, “We’ve just heard grand opera, now you’re gonna hear Grand Opry.”
In 1928, DeFord became a regular on the Opry stage, appearing twice as much as the other performers. Also that year, he cut eight sides for RCA Victor, placing him among the very first recording sessions that ever took place in Nashville. During this time, he met and married his wife, Ida Lee and had three children, DeFord Jr., Dezoral Lee, and Christine Lamb.
With the stock market crash of 1929, DeFord became an entrepreneur, starting a barbeque shop and a shoe shine shop. Then, to make ends meet, he began to tour with other Opry greats, such as Roy Acuff and Uncle Dave Macon. This proved difficult for DeFord, as being an African American in rural south often did, but he persevered.
“Often times he was forced to wait back stage between performances alone because it was illegal to socialize with white associates,” says Conkwright. “Sometimes Uncle Dave Macon would tell hotel owners that he was his valet, so that he could sleep insides. Acuff once snuck him in to a hotel in an instrument case. When he was not so lucky, he was forced to sleep outside, eat meals outside, and was regulated to a second class citizen.”
In 1941, DeFord was forced to leave the Opry, which still regarded as one of the most controversial and interesting aspects of the famous show. Once again, however, DeFord persevered. He worked full time in his shoe shine shop, continuing to play at home.
He once said, “I played for walls and God to continue playing.”
DeFord would only make four more appearances on the Grand Ole Opry stage, prompted by his good friend, biographer David Morton. He had plenty of offers for other engagements, but turned them all down – convinced everyone was trying to swindle him. DeFord died on July 2, 1982.
Morton wrote his biography in 1991, and in 2005, over 75 years after he first took the stage, DeFord was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “I first thought this was going to be a story about a music talent, someone who knows how to master his instrument and contributed to American music history,” Conkwright says. “But very soon, as I began to learn more and more about this man, I just couldn’t believe what he’s been able to do and give, not just to the music history, but to history in general. He was someone that encapsulated the true character and bravery and courage of an American.”
Listen here. Seriously, he was amazing.
