Smyrna resident Josie Bailey often finds herself the center of attention as she spins glittering narratives about animals and people. She throws herself into her performances, bringing characters to life with different dialects and volumes as she marches up and down in front of crowds young and old, dragging out props — stuffed animals and clothing items. She often calls up delighted young viewers to participate.
Although she’s steadily honed her craft of storytelling over the past 30 years, there have been moments she’s thought about quitting, but the stories and the people have always pulled her back.
“Every time I give it up, somebody will call me and book me, and I’m falling in love with it all over again,” she told the AJC.
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
Vibrant narratives
Bailey’s stories began when her son was in fourth grade at Riverside Elementary School in Mableton.
“I went to a teacher’s meeting, and I asked the teacher, how could I help him do better in school. She said that students usually do better when the parents volunteer.”
The teacher asked her what she loved doing.
“I love reading stories to my children,” Bailey recalled answering.
Her job as a warehouse receptionist had recently ended, and she’d begun her own business typing, so she had some extra time. She began reading at the school, and she quickly became a hit, so she branched out to other teachers’ rooms.
“I started going at 8 in the morning and stayed all day till school closed, and I’d go to every classroom in the school reading these stories,” she said.
She made an impression. At an end-of-the-year school meeting, she read one of her favorite poems, “Morning,” by Paul Laurance Dunbar. The kindergarteners joined in and knew the whole thing by heart.
“All the teachers were shocked, the parents were shocked, I was shocked,” Bailey said.
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
A start in storytelling
After one of the teachers told her she could get paid for storytelling, Bailey visited the Owl’s Tree Bookstore in Powder Springs intending to audition in front of then-owner Virginia Meldrum for a festival Meldrum oversaw at the time.
“I picked up the book and started reading, and she said, ‘Nobody’s going to pay you to read a story, but if you put the book down, I’ll pay you,’” Bailey recalled. “I had read the story all year, so you know, I know it by now. I put the book down and I told the story. She hired me for $25 for 30 minutes.”
Bailey started out telling stories in the bookstore on Saturdays, and she joined the festival lineup shortly after. That was 1993. She’s been weaving vibrant narratives for audiences across the South ever since.
Born in Senoia, Georgia, Bailey settled in Atlanta after graduating from Georgia State University with a degree in social work. When she began telling stories, her adoptive city took note of her newly unlocked talent. Things snowballed after the bookstore gig.
“Whenever I would tell stories, people would come up to me and say, ‘Do you do this for other people?’” she said.
Appearances at schools and libraries proliferated, and Bailey had to tackle a learning curve that included respecting others’ work.
“When I very first started telling stories, I knew that I couldn’t just take somebody’s stories and tell them. I had to use public domain stories,” she said.
Her present catalog includes fairy tales, folk tales, and stories with spiritual leanings.
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
Credit: Contributed by Josie Bailey
Creative challenges
These days, she travels throughout the metro, up into North Georgia, and even South Carolina and Alabama. Her biggest months are kids’ summer breaks in June and July, and February, Black History Month. As summer approaches, she has gigs booked at libraries, and she performs regularly at festivals and venues like The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta’s West End.
At this point, although she plans to continue with live performances, she’s looking to add other revenue streams. She’s written three children’s books, and during the pandemic, she started recording her stories to DVD, which she’s now looking to market. Like many other creatives, she finds marketing an uphill push.
“The challenge is because we’re performing artists, that’s what we do, that’s what we know,” she said. “We aren’t that great in the business part and the marketing part and all of that.”
The income fluctuates, but she persists out of a visceral tie to her craft.
“The challenge is, sometimes, it’s difficult to eat,” she said laughing. “It’s either feast or famine … Over the years I’ve often said, ‘I’m going to give this up — I just cannot make a living out of it.’ I love it, so I just cannot (give it up).”
Hear some of storyteller Josie Bailey’s stories and see a schedule of her upcoming appearances at josiebailey.com.
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