Deputy wounded during standoff expected to recover

LYNNVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee deputy who responded to a call at a home early Thursday has been shot and wounded, a sheriff said.

The deputy was shot in the chest during a standoff at the home in Lynnville, Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton told news outlets. The deputy was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Helton said.

Authorities continued to negotiate, and a male inside the home surrendered, authorities said. Further details were not immediately released.

Teen charged with murder in suspected overdose deaths of two high school students

SOMERVILLE (AP) — A juvenile has been charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of two Tennessee teenagers who officials believe overdosed in the parking lot of their high school, authorities said Thursday.

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office told news outlets that a teenage girl had been charged in the deaths.

Two teenage girls were found dead Tuesday at Fayette Ware Comprehensive High School in Somerville and a third was hospitalized before being released Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said. All three of the students attended Fayette Ware, the school said.

The students were found in the parking lot of the high school, hours before its graduation ceremony was set to begin in the school’s gym, news outlets reported.

A judge decided on Thursday that the girl charged in the deaths would be released to the custody of her grandmother and be placed on house arrest, District Attorney Mark Davidson told WMC-TV. A hearing was set for June 7 to decide whether to send the case to adult court.

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

NASHVILLE (AP) — The city of Nashville is naming a street after Grand Ole Opry pioneer DeFord Bailey, the “Harmonica Wizard” whose popularity and contributions to country music and blues are still being recognized decades later.

On Saturday, DeFord Bailey Avenue will be officially dedicated in the Edgehill neighborhood of Nashville where Bailey lived most of his life until his death in 1982. Two of Bailey’s grandsons, Carlos DeFord Bailey and Herchel Bailey will perform at a concert after the dedication.

Bailey overcame huge obstacles on his way to stardom. He contracted polio as a child, which led him to learn the harmonica while he was bedridden. He came from a family of Black musicians and his music created a link between the rural “Black hillbilly music” he learned living in Smith County, Tennessee, and the contemporary country music that was being formed on the Opry stage.

“He traveled throughout the South with Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe and Minnie Pearl and that gang there, and he was the star of the show,” said his grandson Carlos DeFord Bailey.

In 1927, Bailey’s performance of “Pan American Blues,” in which his harmonica imitated the sound of a rolling locomotive, helped inspire the name “Grand Ole Opry,” and he was the first musician to hold a major recording session in Nashville in 1928. Despite his success and popularity, Bailey faced racism during the Jim Crow Era of segregation in the South, especially while touring with other white Opry members.

“He wasn’t allowed to do a lot of things that the other artists were able to do, like going to restaurants, going into the hotels, using the bathrooms,” said his grandson. “He had to sleep in the car from time to time.”

Bailey performed on the Opry for about 16 years until 1941 when a dispute between the Opry and the performing rights organization ASCAP created a rift. The Opry management forbade Bailey from performing his songs that were licensed through ASCAP, including listener favorites like “Fox Chase.” When he refused, the Opry fired him.

Bailey retired from playing professionally and channeled his attention to a second career as the owner of a shoe-shine parlor in Nashville. His grandson remembers spending Saturdays at the parlor and recalls that his grandfather often dressed very dapper — wearing suits underneath his overalls to protect them from stains.