Nashville to name street after ‘Harmonica Wizard,’ Opry founder DeFord Bailey

By KRISTIN M. HALL
AP Entertainment Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — DeFord Bailey was known as both the “Harmonica Wizard” and a Grand Ole Opry pioneer. He was the first musician to hold a major recording session in Nashville in 1928 and performed on the Opry fornearly 16 years. Now, more than four decades after his death, the city of Nashville is naming a street after the musician, who lived in the Edgehill neighborhood for most of his life. After his contributions to music were overlooked for years, Bailey’s grandson hopes the street naming, as well as a new edition of the definitive biography on him, will help keep Bailey’s legacy alive for a new generation.