Kid Bailey

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Kid Bailey was an American blues singer, guitarist, and pianist. Only two pieces by him have come down to us, Mississippi Bottom Blues and Rowdy Blues , both recorded in 1929 at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis for the Brunswick record label .

The recordings reveal influences from Charley Patton , Willie Brown and Tommy Johnson , with whom he was friends and made music. It is believed that Willie Brown played the second guitar on his recordings, but this has not been proven. Sometimes it is also suggested that Willie Brown used the name Kid Bailey as a pseudonym , but the fact that numerous contemporary witnesses can at least vaguely remember him makes this seem unfounded.

Little is known about Bailey's life. The earliest tracks locate him in the early / mid-1920s around Doddsville in Sunflower County, Mississippi, where he already appeared as a street musician. In the mid-1920s he played in a string band that Charley Patton accompanied on several occasions, and in the early 30s he was (as a soloist) duet partner of Patton. He is said to have made music in the Leland area between 1932 and 1945 or 1950 . Skip James claims to have seen him performing in Moorehead in 1950 , where he played the mandolin . In 1958 he is said to have worked as a street musician in Indianola, in 1960 in a pub in Canton. Afterwards his track is lost, isolated indications suggest a natural death at this time.

According to copyright records ( State Street Music Publishing Co. ), Kid Bailey is also the composer of Robert Wilkins ' Long Train Blues, which was also recorded for the Brunswick label .

Rory Block covered both recordings of Kid Bailey, Mississippi Bottom Blues on her CD "Tornado" and Rowdy Blues on "When a Woman Gets the Blues". Nick Katzman and "Ruby Green" (Terry Garthwaite) also have both songs on their LP "Mississippi River Bottom Blues" ( Kicking Mule ; later also under the titles "How to play Delta blues guitar" and "Panic when the sun goes down") published) interpreted.

swell

  • Stephen Calt, Gayle Wardlow: King of the Delta blues. The life and music of Charlie Patton . Rock Chapel Press, Newton, NJ 1988, ISBN 0961861002 , pp. 166-169, 188, 231
  • John Cowley: Kid Bailey and copyright . Blues & Rhythm H. 51 1988, p. 16

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personal data
SURNAME Bailey, kid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues musician
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century or 20th century
DATE OF DEATH 20th century or 21st century