Kid Bailey

{{short description|American singer}}{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Kid Bailey

| birth_place = probably Mississippi, U.S.{{Cite web |last=arwulf |first=arwulf |title=Kid Bailey: Biography |website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000097404 |access-date=November 9, 2022}}{{Cite book |last1=Eagle |first1=Bob L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZNfAQAAQBAJ&dq=Kid%20Bailey%20blues&pg=PA187 |title=Blues: A Regional Experience |last2=LeBlanc |first2=Eric S. |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |isbn=9780313344244 |pages=187}}

| death_date = after 1960

| genre = Delta Blues

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = {{Flatlist|

• Vocal
• Guitar

}}

| years_active = early 1920s - 1950s{{Cite book |last1=Komara |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQU3AgAAQBAJ&dq=Kid%20Bailey%20blues&pg=PA40 |title=The Blues Encyclopedia |last2=Lee |first2=Peter |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=9781135958329 |pages=40}}

}}

Kid Bailey (before 1929 – after 1960){{Cite book |last=Taft |first=Michael |title=Talkin' to Myself: Blues Lyrics, 1921-1942 |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=9781136734014 |pages=23}} was a Mississippi Delta bluesman. His one known recording session occurred on September 25, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee.{{cite web|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/bailefrm.htm|title=Kid Bailey Discography|publisher=Wirz.de|accessdate=2015-09-06}}"Kid Bailey" (1995). Guinness Who’s Who of Blues (2nd ed.). Colin Larkin, ed. Guinness Publishing. p. 17.Olsen, Ryan. "Kid Bailey". The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues. Vol. 1, A–J. Edward Komara, ed. New York: Routledge. p. 40. {{ISBN|0-415-92699-8}}.Cowley, John (1988). "Kid Bailey and Copyright". Blues & Rhythm 51, p. 16.

Little is known about Bailey. His voice had a distinctly coarse yet youthful quality. Two of his recordings have survived: "Rowdy Blues" and "Mississippi Bottom Blues". In most digital releases, the tracks are attributed to Willie Brown yet are evidently the same artist credited as Kid Bailey on the original 78-rpm recordings.{{cite web|url=http://www.metafilter.com/69279/The-mysterious-Kid-Bailey |title=The mysterious Kid Bailey |publisher=MetaFilter |date= |accessdate=2015-09-06}}

It has been remarked that "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."[http://www.publicdomain2ten.com/tag/kid-bailey/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901220033/http://www.publicdomain2ten.com/tag/kid-bailey/|date=September 1, 2010}} There has been some speculation that Kid Bailey was a pseudonym of the blues singer Willie Brown.{{cite web|url=http://prewarblues.org/2006/06/sql-blues/ |title=Honey, Where You Been So Long? |publisher=Prewarblues.org |date=1999-02-22 |accessdate=2015-09-06}}

Bailey's songs have been covered by Ian A. Anderson, Rory Block, Doug Cox, the Be Good Tanyas, and Thomasina Winslow with Nick Katzman.

His song "Rowdy Blues" is included on the compilation album Masters of the Delta Blues: The Friends of Charlie Patton, released by Yazoo Records.{{cite book

| first= Tony

| last= Russell

| year= 1997

| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray

| edition=

| publisher= Carlton Books

| location= Dubai

| isbn= 1-85868-255-X

| page= 211}}