Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis
Background information
Birth name	Gary Davis
Also known as	Blind Gary Davis
Born	(1896-04-30)April 30, 1896 Laurens, South Carolina, United States
Died	May 5, 1972(1972-05-05) (aged 76) Hammonton, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Gospel blues. Piedmont blues, country blues, folk-blues
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1930s–1970s

Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972) was a blind African American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo guitar and harmonica. His finger-picking guitar style influenced many other artists and his students include Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Ernie Hawkins, Larry Campbell, Bob Weir, Woody Mann, and Tom Winslow.^[1]

He has influenced Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen, Keb' Mo', Ollabelle, Resurrection Band, and John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful.

Biography

Gary Davis was born in the Piedmont region of the country, in Laurens, South Carolina, and was the only one of eight children his mother bore who survived to adulthood. He became blind as an infant. Davis reported that his father was killed in Birmingham, Alabama, when Davis was ten, and Davis later said that he had been told that his father had been shot by the Birmingham High Sheriff. He recalled being poorly treated by his mother and that before his death his father had given him into the care of his paternal grandmother.^[2]

He took to the guitar and assumed a unique multi-voice style produced solely with his thumb and index finger, playing not only gospel, ragtime, and blues tunes, but also traditional and original tunes in four-part harmony.

Bull City Blues, Durham, North Carolina

In the mid-1920s, Davis migrated to Durham, North Carolina, a major center for black culture at the time. There he taught Blind Boy Fuller and collaborated with a number of other artists in the Piedmont blues scene, including Bull City Red.^[1] In 1935, J. B. Long, a store manager with a reputation for supporting local artists, introduced Davis, Fuller, and Red to the American Record Company. The subsequent recording sessions marked the real beginning of Davis' career and are available in his Complete Early Recordings. During his time in Durham, Davis converted to Christianity; in 1937, he would be ordained as a Baptist minister.^[1][3] Following his conversion and especially his ordination, Davis began to express a preference for inspirational gospel music.

In the 1940s, the blues scene in Durham began to decline and Davis migrated to New York.^[1] In 1951, several years before his "rediscovery", Davis's oral history was recorded by Elizabeth Lyttleton Harold (the wife of Alan Lomax) who transcribed their conversations into a 300+-page typescript.

The folk revival of the 1960s re-invigorated Davis' career and included a performance at the Newport Folk Festival and having Peter, Paul and Mary record his version of "Samson and Delilah", also known as "If I Had My Way", which is originally a Blind Willie Johnson song that Davis had popularized. "Samson and Delilah" was also covered and credited to Davis on the Grateful Dead's "Terrapin Station" album. Eric Von Schmidt credits Rev. Davis with three-quarters of Schmidt's Baby, Let Me Follow You Down which Bob Dylan covered on his debut album for Columbia.^[4] Blues Hall of Fame singer and harmonica player Darrell Mansfield has also recorded several of Rev. Davis' songs.

Davis died in May 1972, from a heart attack in Hammonton, New Jersey.^[5] He is buried in plot 68 of Rockville Cemetery in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York.

Discography

Many of his records were published posthumously.

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See also

• Cocaine Blues
• Gospel blues

References

Further reading

• Mann, Woody. The Art of Acoustic Blues Guitar: Ragtime and Gospel, Oak Publications, 2003.
• Reevy, Tony and Caroline Weaver. "Street Sessions, piedmont style [sic]". Our State. July 2002.
• Stambler, Irwin and Lyndon. Folk and Blues, The Encyclopedia, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2001.
• Tilling, Robert. Oh, What a Beautiful City! A Tribute To Rev. Gary Davis. Paul Mill Press, 1992, ISBN 9780786682584.
• von Schmidt, Eric Remembering Reverend Gary Davis Sing Out! 51(4)67–73 2008.
• Zack, Ian. Say No to the Devil: The Life and Musical Genius of Rev. Gary Davis. University of Chicago Press, 2015, ISBN 9780226234106.
• Laurence, Trevor. Director, "Harlem Street Singer", feature documentary film on the life and times of Reverend Gary Davis. Acoustic Traditions 2015

External links

• RevGaryDavis.com, a site devoted to Gary Davis.
• The documentary film on the life and music of Reverend Gary Davis
• www.folkways.si.edu, Smithsonian Folkways recordings information.
• Davis's grave site at findagrave.com
• Davis biography on AllMusic.com
• Biography of the Reverend Gary Davis from the Association of Cultural Equity
• The guitar students of Rev. Gary Davis with links to performances