In the Peach State, Albert Dailey is known as country music royalty

Oconee County resident Albert Bailey first picked up the guitar at the tender age of 6, and he's been strumming along ever since.

Born in Walton County nearly 70 years ago, Bailey has been performing professionally for 50 years and was honored in November 2009 with his induction into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.

"It was great," said Bailey, who lives in the Eastville community with his wife, Hazel, of his induction. "There really are no words to describe it. It was a lifetime dream to be inducted. I've played music all my life, and to be recognized for doing that is amazing.

"I've never been to Nashville with the big stars, but I played with a lot of them when they came to this area. I'm still playing, and I'll continue as long as I'm able. If I gotta go, I hope it will be while I'm singing and playing."

Although he spent 42 years in the insurance business - retiring in 2005 - Bailey said music always has represented his all-consuming passion, and there were times when the many gigs he played helped take care of his family.

"Playing music has actually been kind of a hobby, but there were a lot of times when the money I made from club dates went to the house payment," he said.

One of 11 children, Bailey began playing in public just before his 1960 graduation from Morgan County High School. His first steady job was playing lead guitar with Al Hartley and the Heartbeats (1959-62), and then he joined the Enchanters, who played "lots of proms, parties and clubs around Athens" for four years.

In 1966, he formed the Jades, who played together for 25 years and whose surviving members still gather once a year for a reunion performance. In the late 1970s, the Jades became the house band at the J&J Center on Commerce Road in Athens, playing behind a host of traveling country music stars including Jerry Lee Lewis, Barbara Mandrell, Johnny Paycheck, Ronnie Milsap, Mel Street, Little David Wilkins, Linda Gail Lewis and George Morgan.

"That was weekend work," Bailey said of his days at the J&J Center. "We'd usually play behind somebody on Saturday night, and we'd be playing at a different club on Friday night, and sometimes we'd play on Wednesday nights, too. I

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