Buell Kazee was born at the foot of Burton Fork, Kentucky, a mountain in Magoffin County.

Over the next two years, backed by an assortment of New York musicians, he recorded 51 songs, including such hits as "Gray Lady," "The Sporting Bachelors," and "The Little Orphan Child."

Kazee's lyrics were often dominated by religious subjects, but also treated everyday problems of the working man.

As the Depression worsened, Kazee recorded less and less, and eventually left the music business and worked for the next 22 years as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Morehead, Kentucky.

After the Great Depression in the United States, Kazee performed only rarely and devoted himself entirely to the ministry, the profession that he had actually wanted to pursue since his teens.