Kid Bailey was a Mississippi Delta bluesman. His one known recording session occurred September 25, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Little is known about Bailey. 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 are attributed to Willie Brown yet are evidently the same artist credited as Kid Bailey on the original 78-rpm recordings.
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." There has been some speculation that Kid Bailey was a pseudonym of the blues singer Willie Brown.
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 Master of the Delta Blues: The Friends of Charlie Patton, released by Yazoo Records.