BILL GRANT AND DELIA BELL

• From Hugo, Oklahoma.
• 1960, Bill Grant and Delia Bell began singing together on a Hugo radio program called The Dixie Hayride. They continued performing together for more than 55 years.
• Grant is part Choctaw Indian.
• Bell’s given name: Francis Leona Bell. “Delia” was a nickname.
• Grant was recognized as “Ambassador of Bluegrass Music” by three Oklahoma governors.
• Grant lives on a 360-acre cattle ranch near Hugo, which has been in his family for more than 100 years.
• For more then 30 years (1969-2003), Grant hosted one of the biggest bluegrass festivals in the country on his ranch. He called the festival site Salt Creek Park.
• Bill Grant and Delia Bell had a band called The Kiamichi Mountain Boys, named after the mountains near their home.
• 1982, Emmylou Harris produced a solo album for Delia Bell, released on the Warner Brothers label. It reached #35 on the Billboard charts. Emmylou said of Delia Bell: “If Kitty Wells and Hank Williams had had a child—if somehow their voices had been able to spawn a woman singer—Delia Bell would be it.”
• 2006, they stopped performing for health reasons.
• 2006, Grant received IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award.
• 2008, Grant was recognized as a “Pioneer of Bluegrass Music” by the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky.
• They recorded more than a dozen albums for their own label Kiamichi Records as well as albums by County Records, Rebel Records, Rounder Records and Warner Brothers.
• 2017, Grant was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
• 2018, Delia Bell passed away at the age of 83.
• 2019, Bill Grant passed away at the age of 90.