View source for Del Wood

{{Short description|Country music pianist}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Del Wood
| image           =
| image_size      = 
| caption         = Del Wood
| birth_name      = Polly Adelaide Hendricks
| alias           = Del Wood
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1920|2|22}}
| birth_place     = [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], United States
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|1989|10|03|1920|2|22|mf=yes}}
| death_place     =
| instrument      = [[Piano]]
| genre           = [[Country music|Country]], [[Honky-tonk|honky tonk]], [[ragtime]]
| years_active    = 1951–1989
| label           = [[Tennessee Records]]
| website         = 
}}

'''Polly Adelaide Hendricks Hazelwood''' (February 22, 1920 – October 3, 1989),<ref name="Larkin50"/> known professionally as '''Del Wood''', was an American [[pianist]].<ref name="jw40">Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits'', p.366. {{ISBN|0-8230-7632-6}}.</ref><ref name="cmtdw">{{cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/wood_del/bio.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050129124442/http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/wood_del/bio.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 29, 2005 |title=CMT.com : Del Wood : Biography|publisher=[[CMT (American TV channel)|CMT]]|access-date=2010-12-14|last=Brennan|first=Sandra}}</ref>

==Early life==
Hendricks was born in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. A lifetime resident of Nashville, she was surrounded by the influences of early country music and the remaining vestiges of [[ragtime]], particularly through the guitar pickers. She took up piano at age five, and played [[ragtime]], [[gospel music|gospel]], and [[country music]]. Despite her parents' best efforts to encourage a direction towards [[European classical music|classical music]], the environment in Nashville, plus the early local programming on radio, convinced her that she wanted to play piano in the [[honky-tonk]] style.<ref name="LarkinCountry">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1993|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-726-6|pages=461/2}}</ref> Her dream goal was the [[Grand Ole Opry]], something she would realize in her early 30s.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/>

==Career==
Shortening her married name (Adelaide Hazelwood) to something easier to remember, Wood began playing in bands and honky-tonk joints in her 20s. After a decade of building repertoire and reputation, she spent some time as a staff pianist at [[WLBJ (Kentucky)|WLBJ]] in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was there that she was heard playing "[[Down Yonder]]" among other pieces, which led to a gig with a recording group called Hugh "Baby" Jarrett and his Dixieliners. This led to the first of many recording sessions for the [[Tennessee Records]] label starting in 1951. "Down Yonder" soon became a national hit in both the country and pop categories in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[record chart]]s, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/58 58]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url-access= registration
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/58
}}</ref> She is probably the first female country solo instrumentalist to sell a million copies of a [[Gramophone record|record]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/>

This success was turned into appearances on the Grand Ole Opry starting in 1952, which led to an eventual full-time gig there in 1953, fulfilling her long-time dream.<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|pages=506/7}}</ref> Two years later her fame culminated with a contract from [[RCA Victor Records]], where she would make some of the first country/honky-tonk stereo recordings in the late 1950s. While nothing else that she put out had the same success as "Down Yonder", her offerings over the next decade were frequent and consistent. Wood gained the title, Queen of the Ragtime Pianists,<ref name="Larkin50"/> sometimes shared with junior fellow plunker [[Jo Ann Castle]]. She was also divorced from her stage-namesake, Carson Hazelwood, during this period, but not before adopting a son they named Wesley.

In 1984, Del Wood appeared in the movie [[Rhinestone (film)|''Rhinestone'']], starring [[Dolly Parton]] and [[Sylvester Stallone]] as the pianist in the Wild Possums Band.

=== Death ===
During the [[Vietnam War]], Wood was part of one of the Grand Ole Opry package tours that entertained troops overseas in 1968. Her recordings after the late 1960s were infrequent at best, but her appearances on the Opry continued until just before her death from a [[stroke]] on October 3, 1989, at the age of 69.<ref name="Larkin50"/>

She was interred in the [[Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)|Mount Olivet Cemetery]] in Nashville.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave|10015}}
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.593149.39|name=Country Style USA Recruitment: Episode 39}}

{{Grand Ole Opry members}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Del}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:Grand Ole Opry members]]
[[Category:RCA Victor artists]]
[[Category:Tennessee Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:Country musicians from Tennessee]]
[[Category:20th-century American women pianists]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)]]