Kid Bailey

Kid Bailey was a Mississippi Delta bluesman, His one known recording session occurred September 25, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee.[1][2][3][4]

Little is known about Bailey himself. His voice had a distinctly coarse yet youthful quality, at least four of his recordings have survived: "Rowdy Blues", "Broke and Hungry", "Mississippi Bottom Blues" and "East St Louis Blues", in most digital releases, the tracks have been attributed to "Willie Brown" yet are evidently the same artist credited as "Kid Bailey" on the original 78s.[5]

It has been remarked that,[6] "Although it’s almost a cliché to say this about a blues musician from the American South, Kid Bailey was one of the most enigmatic musicians of the era." There has been some speculation that Kid Bailey was actually blues singer Willie Brown,[7] using a pseudonym.

His songs have been covered by Ian A. Anderson, Rory Block, Doug Cox, The Be Good Tanyas, and Thomasina Winslow with Nick Katzman.[8]

His song, "Rowdy Blues" is included on Yazoo Records' compilation album, Master of the Delta Blues: The Friends of Charlie Patton.[9]

References

  1. ^ Wirz.de
  2. ^ "Kid Bailey" in: Larkin, Colin (ed.), Guinness Who’s Who of Blues (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995, p. 17
  3. ^ Ryan Olsen: "Kid Bailey".- in: Edward Komara (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues, Vol. 1, A-J (New York: Routledge). p. 40. ISBN 0415926998
  4. ^ John Cowley: Kid Bailey and copyright.- Blues & Rhythm 51 (1988), p. 16
  5. ^ Metafilter.com
  6. ^ Publicdomain2ten.com
  7. ^ Prewarblues.org
  8. ^ Wirz.de
  9. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 211. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 

External links