‘We are all the better for having him in our presence’
Toussaint Hayes remembers time spent with his famous uncle Roland.
A living link to an important local historical figure was recently in Calhoun to share personal stories about a legendary relative.
Toussaint Hayes, the nephew of Gordon County native Roland Hayes, was the guest speaker at an event called “An Afternoon With Roland Hayes” in late February at Harris Arts Center.
Hayes read excerpts from Christopher Brooks’ book “Roland Hayes; the Legacy of an American Tenor,” and shared personal memories of his famed uncle who was the brother of Toussaint’s father Robert.
Sharing memories of stories from and about his late uncle, Hayes recalled learning of an early source of Roland’s musical talent gained in the woods around the foot of Gordon County’s Horn Mountain.
“As a youngster, I remember tales they would tell us — stories about how he began in early life where (Roland) would go out with his father and they would listen to the birds,” Hayes recalled. “He was able to imitate those sounds that existed out in nature, which became a catalyst for him to be able to reach all those high pitches and tones that we hear, from that experience in nature.”
Toussaint also mentioned Roland’s exposure to hearing his own father William’s tenor voice while out calling hogs on the family farm. Having been born in rural Gordon County in 1887, farming was a big part of the Hayes family’s livelihood and culture.
Another well-known source of Roland’s early talent development came from attending church in the Curryville community as part of his Baptist upbringing — namely at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Roland once said
when he sang, it was not his own voice, but the Spirit expressing itself through him.
Growing up in the Curryville and Flatwood communities with four older brothers and one sister, Roland’s schooling came in a oneroom school house, and he didn’t receive anything close to a formal musical training until his family moved to Chattanooga around the turn of the century following his father’s death due to a work injury around 1898.
By 1901, a 14-year-old Roland had began working at a Chattanooga foundry, where he was injured while taking turns year to year with Toussaint’s father Robert, each transitioning between work and school to help provide for their mother Fanny.
It’s was while in Chattanooga that Roland became part of a singing quartet.
“What they would do is sing at the various churches in the Chattanooga area,” Hayes said.
During his time performing, Roland drew the interest of several people who would eventually become mentors and encourage him into a life of performing — a path his mother didn’t initially support.
“She was happy that he was working at the steel mill, and thought that was the capability he had at the time,” Hayes said.
In 1906, Roland took off to Nashville with $50 in savings to sing, and eventually began to attend Fisk University while also making a living performing at local churches just as he’d done in Chattanooga.
“He only had a fifth grade education at the time, but
he was able to be enrolled in the college with a provisional certificate,” Hayes said. “By being able to get into Fisk University, and with the skill that he had as a vocalist he was able to begin singing with the worldrenowned Jubilee Singers.”