When Albert Dailey wants to relieve a little stress, he turns to his music.

  Now many a person pounds out a tune on a keyboard or strums the strings of a guitar after a long day at the office. The difference between Dailey and other musicians is, that for this Oconee County resident, his immense talent often allows him to jam with some of the greatest names in country music.

Dailey, who lives in the Eastville community, has played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Marty Robbins, Johnny Paycheck, Conway Twitty and a long list of other country music royalty. He has, over the years, been in popular bands and beloved gospel groups. He has also written songs and released numerous CD’s.

So great are Dailey’s accomplishments as a musician, he was recently inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.

“This is an honor Albert Dailey richly deserves,” said Johnny Carson, one of the founders of the Atlanta County Music Hall of Fame (ACMHOF), a 2009 inductee into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and the grandson of country legend Fiddlin’ John Carson.

The ACMHOF, for almost 30 years, has honored the unsung heroes of the music industry – the musicians who play various instruments in the shadows of big-name performers.

“Most halls of fame honor the big stars who stand up front and sing,” Carson explained. “We honor the guitar pickers, the drummers, the keyboard players and the steel guitar players.”

Just as the ACMHOF recognizes a unique group of country, cowboy and gospel musicians, Carson said they also induct their members in a unique way. They don’t just celebrate the musicians, they turn them loose to play their instruments to their heart’s content.

“You should see it. We all get together and play from noon until midnight,” Carson said. “We end with a dance, and a room full of people and some of the best musicians in the industry.”

The latest ACMHOF ceremony was held in the ballroom of an Atlanta hotel just a few weeks ago. Dailey’s recognition at the all-day-and-dinner-on-the-grounds ceremony comes after a literal lifetime of playing and loving music.

“I started playing the guitar when I was six years old,” Dailey said.

In 1959, Dailey joined his first group, Al Hartley and the Heartbeats. Over the course of his lifetime, he has formed and played in numerous groups, including The Enchanters and his latest group, a gospel trio called Midnight Praise.

One of the gigs Dailey enjoyed most was the two years he spent as a member of the house band at the J and J Center in Athens. Dailey played at the J and J Center during a time when some of the greatest stars of country and western music would tour the country without the aid of back-up musicians. House bands, like the one Dailey was in, would perform music for whatever rising star would swing into town.

Dailey got to play with some of the artists who later ascended to the tip-top rung of the country music ladder. Many a singer was impressed with Dailey, and more than a few asked him to come on the road with them.

That was mighty tempting, Dailey said, especially when the singer had a personality and stage presence just as fiery as his famous red hair.

“Jerry Lee Lewis asked me to come on the road with him, and it was hard to say ‘no’ to that one,” Dailey recalled. “He told me he would pay me what I was making at my job.”

Even when a dynamic performer like Lewis issued a siren call, Dailey kept his priorities in tact. He knew he had a full-time day job in the insurance industry, and a wife and children at home.

“I had a family, a home and a job,” he said. “I thought about it, but I said ‘no.’”

Dailey later wrote a song with Lewis, and had some of his songs produced by Covington native and Georgia Music Hall of Fame member, Joe South.

“Joe South produced for us but we didn’t think anything about it back then,” Dailey said. “That was before he was a big star.”

Rising and established stars provided Dailey with keepsake photos and priceless memories, but some of his dearest memories are of smaller gigs. He especially loved playing for junior and senior proms. Those were proms back in the days when dances had themes like Night Under the Magnolias, when the volume of girls’ teased hair rivaled the volume of their hooped evening gowns, and when boys wore thin, black ties with their crisp, white tuxedos.

“We were playing at one prom and we had two members of the Dixie Redcoat Marching Band playing the horns,” Dailey said. “The girls had on these beautiful dresses, and the horn players were so good they sounded like it was one horn.”

“I will never forget that night,” he added.

Over the years, Dailey has played everywhere from dances to big concert halls to churches to nursing homes. He has also played a number of instruments, including lead guitar, drums, bass, keyboard, and steel guitar.

Though a master of many instruments, the guitar is the instrument Dailey is most likely to pick up.

“I played one guitar so much I wore the neck down and had to get a new one five or six years ago,” he said, laughing. “There sure were a lot of memories on that guitar.”

After 42 years, Dailey is finally retired from the insurance industry. He is, however, certainly not retired from music. His latest musical ventures include working with four grandsons who are carrying on the family music tradition, and playing with a gospel group, Midnight Praise.

“Midnight Praise is already booked up for the first half of next year, and we will be traveling to churches all over Georgia,” Dailey said proudly.

Retirement is giving Dailey and his wife plenty of time to enjoy their five grown children and 13 grandchildren. But, there will always be a little time left over to grab an instrument and relieve a little stress.

“My life is music, and I guess I will be playing music when I die,” Dailey said.

Mary Anne Carroll is a reporter for The Oconee Leader. She can be reached at 706-310-1104 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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