DeFord Bailey

There is a gulf of Bibilical proportions between the amount of influence American black music has had on country & western and the number of black performers actually involved in country. One of the few heroes in what is sadly not a fable is this harmonica player, a victim of infantile paralysis who had to struggle with his physical handicaps as well as racism. The old-time music performer, stooped with a deformed chest, less than five feet tall and weighing under 100 pounds, was for a time a familiar act at the Grand Ole Opry. That is, until a tiff with Opry honcho George Hay...