Bickley Community’s Georgia Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Darowyn Lee was recognized by Ware County’s Board of Commissioners Monday afternoon.
With a large contingent of friends and neighbors in attendance September 8, EMA Director Jonathan Daniell unveiled a roadside sign which will be installed on Bickley Highway reading “BICKLEY, GEORGIA; Home of Darowyn Lee, Member of the Georgia Country Music Hall of Fame.”
Longtime Bickley resident Darowyn Lee (far right) was honored during the September 8, 2025 meeting of the Ware County Commission with a roadside sign which will be placed on the Bickley Highway. Pictured with Lee are (l-r) brother Joe Lee, John Thrift, Commissioners Barry Cox, Chairman Elmer Thrift, Jon Tindall, and Leonard Burse. Photo By DANNY BARTLETT
Daniell read Lee’s biographical summary and the certificate Lee received from the Hall.
“I came from a musical family. My mama sang for 50 years in the choir at Liberty Baptist Church in Bickley, Georgia, where we lived and I grew up on a farm,” the bio states. “My elder brother sang gospel and country. Also, my younger brother played sax for a while. My farmer daddy played guitar, and my sister was an accomplished piano player. I play several instruments, but my primary one is piano.
“When I was 13 years old, I took piano lessons from Mrs. William Denton, a lady in our community. I quit taking lessons after six months and started playing by ear. I also learned to play guitar from a fellow named David Sweat, who worked in the fire tower in Bickley. I would climb that tower to join him and play our guitars.
“During high school, I played in a band. We would often go to Athens and play for UGA fraternities. After high school, in the ’60s and early ’70s while working for Georgia Power, my band, The Southern Keys, played in local clubs.
“We played all over local places including the Douglas, Ga., VFW every Saturday night for five years. We also opened shows for Freddie Heart, Bobby Bare, Mel Tillis, as well as for Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner.
“I ultimately moved to South Carolina where I worked in a recording studio and recorded my first single. While in South Carolina, I worked a show in Orangeburg with Freddie Heart, who had a number one hit song at that time titled ‘Easy Lovin’’. I then met Freddie in Nashville, Tenn., where he took me to Capitol Records to meet its president, Earl Ball.
“Mr. Ball told me he was in the process of letting 19 people on the roster go due to finances, but asked me to come back in six months. He told me he could make me a number one country singer, but I never returned.
“Instead, I got a booking agency and worked the road out of Nashville. I later met and went on tour with Jim and Jesse McReynolds, a bluegrass music duo of brothers in Nashville and members of the Grand Ole Opry.
“I left Nashville in the ’70s and returned home to my roots where I put together a gospel group, the Waymakers. From then throughout the early ’80s, we sang all over south Georgia and north Florida and also made a CD in Nashville. In the ’90s I began singing solos. I recorded five CDs in my musical career.
“Finally, I would like to express how proud I am to be from Waycross, Ware County, Georgia and how honored I am to have been inducted into the Georgia Country Hall of Fame!
“I would be remiss not to conclude with a note of thanks for Jonathan Daniell’s help with sound and equipment over the many years and a special note of recognition of my wife, Deborah Lee, for her loving support and able assistance through these many years.”
