Bailey Morton's Black Stars In Early Country Music

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On the other hand, he was one of the first or the only black person in his era who had signed a contract with Grand Ole Opry, which was a white-oriented concert. He became the only black person who appeared in the concert and people loved him including white audiences too. Even though he had encountered races incidents, he was well-respected while he was performing on the stage. For examples, Morton mentions in his book, Black stars in Early Country Music, “But traveling with white performers in the 1920s and 1930s did present problems for Bailey. Segregation was the custom everywhere. In the places, it was illegal for him to stay in a hotel or eat in a restaurant that served his white colleagues. “It was rough for him in those days” Roy Acuff remembered” (Morton 114). Although Bailey had some privileges in the places that people recognize him, he still had to deal racist people who did not who he was. Compare to other black people who lived at that time, Bailey had slightly luxury amongst some white folks who enjoyed his music. It did not matter whether you were rich or poor. For instances, LINDSEDY claimed in his articles, Bailey, DeFord: (1899–1982) COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER, “Though costars such as the Delmore Brothers would openly “stick by me through thick and thin,” Bailey spent many nights, while touring the Jim Crow South, seeking out kitchens that would serve him or sleeping in cars instead of in hotel rooms”( LINSEDY 172).

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