This phenomenal harmonica player was one of the first and biggest stars of the Grand Ole Opry, but was denied entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame until 2005, 23 years after his death. It’s fair to assume that most radio listeners had no idea he was Black. His wistful Evening Prayer Blues was later transformed by Bill Monroe into a bluegrass instrumental. I love the way Mike Compton and David Long glued the two versions together.
For more information on DeFord, check out his page on the Country Music Hall of Fame Website with an excerpt here:
"The grandson of a fiddler, Bailey grew up in a musical family that played what he called “Black hillbilly music,” a tradition of secular stringband music that drew upon the same core repertoire shared by rural Black and white musicians alike. He also learned songs in church and developed a keen ear for the music he heard around him: the chugging of trains, the baying of hounds chasing foxes, and the sounds of animals on the succession of farms Clark Odum managed in Davidson and Williamson counties."
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