Biography
Bill Grant partnered with Delia Bell to rank among bluegrass music’s strongest male-female duos. Known for an inimitable vocal approach, distinctive mandolin technique, and songwriting ability, Grant also launched an annual bluegrass festival in Hugo, Oklahoma, the town where he was born and raised. Bell, born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, first connected with Grant through her husband; the pair began performing together in 1959 at local events and on the Little Dixie Hayride broadcast by KIHN in Hugo. They appeared monthly as well on a television station in Ada, Oklahoma. After attending Bill Monroe’s Beanblossom Festival in 1969, Grant and Bell formed the Kiamichi Mountain Boys with the Bonham Family.
Grant established the Kiamichi label in 1971 and issued several albums throughout the decade. Bell released a solo country album in 1978; the following year she and Grant toured Great Britain and cut a country record there. The Kiamichi Boys dissolved in 1980 when the Bonhams declined to travel, while Bell and Grant preferred the national festival circuit. That same year Emmylou Harris recorded Bell’s composition “Roses in the Snow”; Harris named Bell her very favorite singer and secured her a Warner Bros. contract. As the 1980s progressed, Bell and Grant released two albums on Rebel and three on Rounder before moving to the Old Homestead label.
Grant established the Kiamichi label in 1971 and issued several albums throughout the decade. Bell released a solo country album in 1978; the following year she and Grant toured Great Britain and cut a country record there. The Kiamichi Boys dissolved in 1980 when the Bonhams declined to travel, while Bell and Grant preferred the national festival circuit. That same year Emmylou Harris recorded Bell’s composition “Roses in the Snow”; Harris named Bell her very favorite singer and secured her a Warner Bros. contract. As the 1980s progressed, Bell and Grant released two albums on Rebel and three on Rounder before moving to the Old Homestead label.
Albums
Singles