Reverend Gary Davis

Early years to 1942 Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina in the Piedmont region, He became blind as an infant. He recalled his grandmother telling him he got "sore eyes" when he was three-weeks old, and the doctors put something in his eyes that "cause[d] ulcers to grow" over the eyes and he ended up blind. His mother remarried and gave birth to a boy. He took up the guitar, first attempting to construct home made instruments, then acquired a cheap mail order instrument paid for by his mother on which he played any time he could, learning his first chords from a local musician named Craig Fowler. An even earlier home recording session also survives, comprising seven tracks recorded in 1951, and only recently discovered and made available as the Ellen Stekert tapes, now made available for listening via YouTube. Between these three informal recording sessions, Stekert and Cohen's recordings documented some 34 different items in Davis' repertoire of the time, including such subsequent well known pieces as "Civil War Parade", "I Am The True Vine", "Say No To The Devil", "Twelve Gates To The City" and "Twelve Sticks", but also renditions of several songs nowhere else recorded. In 1954, a recording session was arranged for Davis for the New York-based Stinson Records by a young Kenneth S. Goldstein, then at the start of his career as a record producer, featuring Davis on guitar and vocals backed by Sonny Terry on harmonica, the result being released as a ten-inch LP entitled The Singing Reverend. According to Ian Zack, the record is marred by Terry's harmonica being recorded at too high a level while the level of the guitar is low, although on careful listening it is quite adequate as a representation of the two players, however in any case it failed to attract much attention. Meanwhile, between 1954 and 1957, Davis began to be featured, along with other blues artists, at a series of concerts under the name "Midnight Special". In a quote from future music writer Lawrence Cohn, Ian Zack states: "Brownie [McGhee], Sonny [Terry] and Gary all took turns... [while the others were playing], Gary would catnap. When it came to his turn, Brownie would give him a shot in the ribs, Gary would startle awake, proceed to knock the audience out with some incredible piece of music, then go back to sleep until it was his turn again", and that Davis must have been exhausted from his other two jobs, preaching and street singing, and having to wait his turn at midnight concerts that sometimes did not get going until 1 a.m. had to have been difficult. Through the early 1960s Davis started to travel a little for bookings including in Boston, and while at home in New York would attend folk music gatherings at Washington Square on Sundays. In 1962, a then 16 year old Jewish kid Stefan Grossman sought out Davis for lessons, with Davis becoming "like a surrogate grandfather in a way" and Grossman in return absorbing everything Davis could show him, and sometimes spending eight hours at the Davises. In March 1966, Davis appeared (sharing the episode with Donovan and sitar playing singer Shawn Phillips) playing two numbers on Pete Seeger's long running Rainbow Quest television program, appearing in Episode 23 of the 39 made. Davis appeared to disconcert the show's host with his lengthy performances—"Children of Zion" and "Oh Glory, How Happy I Am", both on 12-string guitar—but the result forms a valuable audio visual document of Davis' performing style at this time. Four months later, Davis left for his third visit to the UK, this time as a solo artist, performing in folk clubs, now aged 70; over a three-week period he appeared in 13 different locations. although artistically it has been considered of less interest than his earlier output, additional royalties allowed them to purchase a second house in Newtonville, New Jersey, which they used as a weekend getaway. The Grateful Dead covered "Samson and Delilah" on their album Terrapin Station and credited it to Davis. They covered Davis' song "Death Don't Have No Mercy". Eric Von Schmidt credited Davis with three-quarters of Schmidt's "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", which Bob Dylan covered on his debut album for Columbia Records. The Blues Hall of Fame singer and harmonica player Darrell Mansfield has recorded several of Davis's songs. The Rolling Stones credited Davis and Mississippi Fred McDowell for "You Gotta Move" on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Around the time of Davis' death, his former student Stefan Grossman had decided to release more of Davis' work, resulting in the release of several albums of home recordings and concert tapes, commencing with Ragtime Guitar on the UK Transatlantic record label (home recordings 1960–1971) and Children of Zion, also on Transatlantic, featuring a 1962 concert recorded at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania; a double-LP set ''Lo' I Be With You Always on Kicking Mule, 1973, comprising various home and concert sessions recorded between 1959 and 1968; Let Us Get Together'' on Sonet, 1974 (mainly 1960s home recordings, some in his publisher's office); I Am a True Vine (Heritage, 1985, tracks leased from Stefan Grossman, recorded 1962–63). More than 15 other discs of non-studio recordings of Davis have subsequently released on a range of labels including Folkways, Document, Wolf, Heritage, Shanachie and more (refer Discography). ==Contemporary reception and recorded legacy==

While Davis' main body of recorded work, from around 1960 onwards, was generally well received, his recordings would scarcely be classed as huge sellers; reasons for this would mainly center around his decision to record mainly gospel music (a position he relaxed a little later in his performing career) which contrasted with the earthy blues music of his contemporary older style who were being rediscovered at that time (Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and the like) that appealed simultaneously to the emerging white blues audience, and also (in the guise of "folk blues") to the acoustic folk-based audiences of the day, while the main recipients for Davis' gospel stylings were the small black church communities, not a demographic with particular purchasing power; in addition his somewhat gruff vocals (in contrast to his powerful and complex guitar arrangements) may have been a barrier for some listeners. However his influence on guitarists, via his students and once removed via popularisers such as Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk and others, was immense, even if the latter tended to eschew his more complex pieces simply on account of the fact that his full technique was almost impossible for others to master. Since his passing, his legacy and degree of appreciation for what he was able to accomplish musically has grown, due in no small part to the efforts of ex students like Stefan Grossman, Woody Mann and Ernie Hawkins to perpetuate his legacy via release of unpublished recordings and videos, books and manuals of technique, and sets of audio and video lessons that teach his style. Meanwhile, after perhaps a slow start, Davis' recordings now attract full attention in blues compendia alongside recordings by other more "pure blues" artists, with appreciation duly given for the superb musicianship on display; for example in The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings (2006), Chris Smith writes: ==Musical style==

Davis was absolutely without peer in his guitar style in his chosen genre (Piedmont blues and gospel) and also incorporated influences in his playing from marching bands, piano players, and early jazz and ragtime. His only contemporaries that came close to him (or, in some aspects, surpassed him for speed and clarity of picking) were Blind Blake and, possibly, Willie Walker, although so little recorded evidence remains of the latter artist that his abilities are largely based on second hand accounts; in any case, neither of these two players had the stylistic range of Davis or his seemingly effortless ability to utilise the entire range of the guitar and to play with ease in multiple keys. Already by his earliest (1935) recordings Davis' style seems fully formed. At those sessions he recorded eight songs (including the unissued "Lord, I wish I could See") played in the key of C (a common ragtime guitarists' choice), two in A (a Davis favourite), plus one each in the keys of G, E, and F, the last a very challenging key for the guitarist. While his earliest days of self-teaching remain undocumented, Ernie Hawkins has written: "Davis once told me that he could imitate any guitarist, a skill he developed early-on by learning the latest hits that his hometown record store played through a speaker directed onto the street. By stopping every day with his guitar and working out the songs he heard, he learned almost every song that came out on record. [Editor's note: since no blues guitarists were recorded before 1923 and Davis was apparently plying his trade from around 1917, either this recollection post-dates 1923 or Davis' earliest listening via recordings comprised non- guitar material such as jazz or marching bands, or records featuring solo piano or banjo]. Some of his favorite guitarists from the early days of recording were Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, and Blind Willie Johnson. Davis also picked up a lot of music (including songs like "Candy Man") from guitarists employed by traveling medicine shows for their ability to attract a crowd. You might say that he had a "phonographic" memory, but it was one that reached deep into the traditions that preceded him. Davis was a walking encyclopedia of the Piedmont guitar style, a style that enabled him to play any type of music he came across. ... At our lessons Davis would often surprise me with jazz tunes from the 1920s played in flat keys. I learned his version of songs like "Florida Blues" (in G and C) and "Stormy Weather" (in G). F was one of his favorite keys—he used it for the '20s dance hit "Walkin' the Dog" (which was recorded twice by Hoagy Carmichael), the first part of "United States March," some gospel songs, and popular songs like "Darktown Strutter's Ball". As in "Slow Drag," Davis used a unique stride-influenced fingerpicking style that enabled him to work through the changes while moving a bass line as he played a melody or improvised on the treble strings." In the liner notes to the Yazoo release Reverend Gary Davis 1935-1949 (mis-represented as "1935-1939" on the back cover), Stefan Grossman wrote: "Blues historians tend to classify the guitar style of Reverend Davis as an imitation of Blind Blake's. But this is quite absurd. Blake's technique was limited to his style of music. Davis uses a much more complicated approach to guitar playing which employs rhythmic and linear counter-point behind a sung musical statement. His instrumentals go beyond the ordinary "dance rag" and can depict a marching band, a battle, a broken car or the dreams of the devil. Reverend Davis has also perfected more than one style. He can play in the gentle style of John Hurt [...] or the more primitive bottleneck style or even double thumb frail banjo dance tunes or play carnival style banjo. But his major achievement is developing a guitar style that incorporated more than a syncopated bass or an alternating bass but used a variation of these played against a treble melody that was coupled with a middle registered harmony. ... Many times the thumb plays treble notes [editor's note: the converse of regular guitar playing] to give them the right accent ... He has developed "rolls" that double time the rhythm or accentuate the existing time signature. ... As with many other ragtime guitarists, Reverend Davis tends to favor the key of C. But for him each key has its own individual sound and there are pieces played in A, C, E. F and G on this disc. Davis has the uncanny ability of being able to play proficiently in any key. His most unusual arrangement conceptions are found in those songs placed in the key of F." Presenting some examples of Davis' style as illustrated by specific songs, Ernie Hawkins initially states: There is much more that has been written about Davis' style as exemplified in particular tunes, for which particular tutorials and books should be consulted. Regarding Davis' vocals, Grossman has written: "Davis' singing technique depends on the type of material he is doing. For religious pieces he tends to preach, shout and sing with as much intensity as possible. His blues are marked by interesting guitar arrangements against an almost spoken verse. His carnival show songs tend to have softer guitar arrangements that are used solely as an accompaniment and here his singing is more melodic but never with the intensity of his gospel music." Perhaps a final account of Davis' style can be given from a description by Woody Mann, contained in his 1973 book Six Black Blues Guitarists, which also discusses the work of Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, and others besides Davis. Mann writes: ==Filmed appearances==

Davis scholars and enthusiasts are fortunate that he lived long enough to be filmed on a number of occasions, generally while in his prime as a performer. Stefan Grossman compiled a 105-minute set of all then known Davis film clips, released as SKU Vestapol 13111 Rev Gary Davis: The Video Collection, covering two tracks taken from the 1964 short film Blind Gary Davis that played in theatres in the early 1960s; two tunes broadcast on Rainbow Quest in 1966; eight tunes filmed for the Seattle Folklore Society in 1969 by the Anthropology Department, followed by another nine shot at a local television station on the same trip; plus two tunes filmed by Lionel Rogosin for his 1970 film Black Roots. Not included here, but available via other sources, are a brief clip from French television recorded in May 1964 when "the Blues & Gospel Caravan" was performing in Paris, and two tracks of better audio and video quality recorded at Newport in 1965 ("Death Don't Have No Mercy", "Twelve Gates to the City") included in the DVD documentary Harlem Street Singer (Acoustic Films, 2014). This documentary also includes some additional, fragmentary silent footage (with semi synchronised audio dubbed from other sources) filmed in Montreal, Canada, in January 1967, as well as informal footage of Davis at home providing advice and instruction for a student. ==Discography==

Many of Davis' recordings were published posthumously. == Recognition ==

While he was alive, Davis' music was recognized by musicians of the era as exceptional. Bob Dylan called him "one of the wizards of modern music," while Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead said Davis had "a Bacchian sense of music which transcended any common notion of a bluesman." Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane suggested Davis is "one of the greatest figures of 20th-century music." In 2002, Inside Sounds released a 20-track compilation Gary Davis Style (The Legacy Of Reverend Gary Davis) by a range of artists, a project described by the compiler as "started as an attempt to celebrate the centenary of Rev. Gary Davis's birth" which ended up comprising 20 tracks of which approximately half were previously released, and the remainder at that time previously unrecorded by the contributing artists. ==See also==