As a pre-teen, future church musician Louie Bailey and friends from his Royal Ambassador group distributed brand-new copies of the 1956 Baptist Hymnal in their congregation’s pew racks.
That day, Bailey held in his hands a book that would shape his life. Then a budding piano student, he found the hymnal to be both a textbook and an inspiration — providing training in sight reading, offering opportunities for improvisation and opening the door to the breadth of church music.
1956 Baptist Hymnal
“The 1956 Baptist Hymnal was my tutelage for the piano,” said Bailey, who in December will retire from Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., after 40 years of ministry at the same congregation. His piano teacher also grounded him in the classics and encouraged creative harmonies when playing popular songs of the day.
That training carried over to hymn playing. “You learn how to add chords and embellish them, and you can do this with hymns too,” he said.
The Bailey family attended Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., but Louie’s worship experience extended further. He often accompanied his father, a lay minister, to area jails where the elder Bailey preached. Before beginning piano lessons at age 11, Louie learned the accordion and carried his instrument to the jails to play. “I remember one time a prisoner wanted to give me a nickel,” he recalled with a chuckle. “My father wouldn’t let me take it.”
By 15, Bailey knew he wanted to spend his life as a church musician. After earning a bachelor’s degree in piano from Georgia State University, he pursued church music at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, completing both master’s and doctoral degrees. Along the way, he expanded his musicianship to organ, voice and conducting.
Louie and June Bailey at a performance.
He entered seminary in 1969 and soon accepted a music ministry position at Watkins Memorial United Methodist Church. For the past 56 years, he has served continuously in music ministry.
Bailey began at Crescent Hill on Oct. 1, 1985. Next Sunday, Oct. 5, the church will honor him and his wife, June, for their four decades of service. His connection to the congregation, however, began much earlier.
On their very first Sunday in Louisville as seminary students, the Baileys visited Crescent Hill, which is located near the campus.
“I remember thinking this would be a wonderful place to minister,” Louie said. “And I remember what the choir sang. It was a piece by Hassler, a Baroque composer — ‘O Sing to the Lord’ — and it was wonderful.”
Stability has marked Bailey’s ministry. He remained at Watkins for seven years during seminary and after graduation served nine years as minister of music at Bayshore Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla. He wasn’t seeking a move when Crescent Hill’s search team approached him.
“I was happy at Bayshore,” he said. “I had been contacted by several churches over the years, and nothing ever felt right.”
After discernment, Bailey sensed the move to Crescent Hill was providential. June’s openness was key to the decision. “June agreed this was a place she would be willing to serve, and that sealed it for me.”
Louie, June, Evan and Sean Baily in an old family portrait.
At Crescent Hill, June worked alongside him, directing children’s choirs, handbells and the orchestra, while also serving as a music consultant for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
When the Baileys arrived, Crescent Hill’s close ties to Southern Seminary meant many faculty, staff and students participated in every aspect of the church’s ministry, including music. At one point, Bailey oversaw 11 musical groups, leading a repertoire ranging from Handel’s Messiah and Britten’s Ceremony of Carols to Broadway productions. He was music director for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, Cotton Patch Gospel and Narnia.
The church’s relationship with the seminary ended in the 1990s, when conservative leadership took control of the Southern Baptist school and a faculty exodus followed, including many Crescent Hill members. The new seminary community had little affinity for Crescent Hill’s more progressive theological stances.
Membership shrank, resources diminished, yet Bailey held steady. “I always felt one gift I may have is flexibility,” he said. “I’ve been able to adapt to different situations and kind of go with the flow. You serve God wherever you are.”
His position eventually was reduced to part time, and he added organist duties. The shift opened time for other roles. Today he serves as music and choir director at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, teaches choral music at Highlands Latin School and directs music at The Temple—Congregation Adath Israel Brith Sholom, Kentucky’s largest synagogue. He also serves on the board of the Louisville Master Chorale.
Community music long has enriched Bailey’s life. For several years, he served as a conductor for the Louisville Youth Choir. “One of the more rewarding aspects of that was to prepare choirs to sing with the Louisville Orchestra in major works,” he said.
As college students, he and June sang with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s master chorus, an auditioned group then led by the legendary Robert Shaw. “Every Tuesday night we were under his tutelage,” Bailey said. “One rehearsal with him was like a college education. He was so brilliant and insightful.”
Decades later, Bailey’s quest for excellence endures. While he is stepping away from Crescent Hill, he is not retiring his baton. “There’s just something magical about choral music,” he said.