Guy Davis (musician)
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Guy Davis | |
---|---|
Blues | |
Instruments |
|
Years active | 1978-present |
Guy Davis (born May 12, 1952) is an American
Davis' roots
Davis says his
Acting
Throughout his life Davis has had overlapping interests in music and acting. Early acting roles included a lead role in the 1984 film Beat Street opposite Rae Dawn Chong. He appeared on television as Dr. Josh Hall in One Life to Live from 1985 to 1986. Eventually, Davis had the opportunity to combine music and acting on the stage. He made his Broadway musical debut in 1991 in the Zora Neale Hurston/Langston Hughes collaboration Mulebone, which featured the music of Taj Mahal.
In 1993, he performed
Davis creates his own work: looking for more ways to combine his love of blues, music, and acting, Davis created material for himself. He wrote In Bed with the Blues: The Adventures of Fishy Waters—an engaging and moving one-man show. The Off-Broadway debut in 1994 received critical praise from
Davis' writing projects have included a variety of theatre pieces and plays. Mudsurfing, a collection of three short stories, received the 1991 Brio Award from the
In 2022, Davis wrote and performed Sugarbelly and Other Tales My Father Told Me. The one-man show was presented by Crossroads Theater and performed at the Arthur Laurents Theater in the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[3]
Music
For the past two decades, Davis has concentrated on writing, recording, and performing music. In late 1995, he released his
Davis's next album, Call Down the Thunder paid tribute to the blues masters but revealed more of his powerful originals. It too was named a top ten album of the year in the Boston Globe and Pulse. Acoustic Guitar said it was one of the "thirty essential CDs from a new generation of performers".
Davis' third Red House disc, You Don't Know My Mind which includes backing vocals by Olu Dara, explodes with passion and rhythm, and displays Davis' breadth as a composer and powerhouse performer. It was chosen as 'Blues Album of the Year' by the Association For Independent Music (formerly NAIRD). The San Francisco Chronicle gave the CD four stars, adding, "Davis' tough, timeless vocals blow through your brain like a Mississippi dust devil."
Charles M. Young summed up Davis's take on the blues writing in Playboy magazine: "Davis reminds you that the blues started as dance music. This is blues made for humming along, stomping your foot, feeling righteous in the face of oppression and expressing gratitude to your baby for greasing your skillet."
Davis's fourth album was Butt Naked Free, the first of his albums to have been produced by John Platania, former guitarist for Van Morrison. In addition to Platania on electric guitar, it includes musician friends such as Levon Helm, multi-instrumentalist, Tommy "T-Bone" Wolk; Carly Simon, 'Saturday Night Live' Band, drummer Gary Burke, and acoustic bassist, Mark Murphy. The musicians all performed "Waitin' On the Cards to Fall" from this album on the Conan O'Brien show.
Of the fifth album, Give in Kind, music critic Dave Marsh wrote, "Davis never loses sight of the blues as good time music, the original forum for dancing on top of one's sorrows. Joy made more exquisite, of course, by the sorrow from which it springs."
Notables who call themselves Davis fans include Jackson Browne, writer Maya Angelou, and actress Jessica Lange. Lange invited Davis to perform his cover version of the Bob Dylan song, "What's a Sweetheart Like You (Doing in a Dump Like This)" for a fundraiser that she and her husband Sam Shepard organized for Tibetan monks in Minnesota.
Chocolate to the Bone, Davis's sixth album followed. Accolades included a
His 2004 album, Legacy, was picked as one of the Best CDs of the Year by
Illustrator Guy Davis drew the cover for this album. The tongue-in-cheek cartoon strip is included in the liner notes, is a collaboration between the two men. A winery in California completes the triumvirate, as it is headed by a winemaker also named Guy Davis. He created a limited edition wine in their honor with the label artwork done by illustrator Guy Davis.[4]
Davis has contributed songs on a host of tribute and compilation albums, including collections on bluesmen
However, easily the proudest recording project he has been involved with is the one produced by his friend Larry Long, called I Will Be Your Friend: Songs and Activities for Young Peacemakers, in which Davis contributed the title track. It is a CD collection of enriching songs combined with a teacher's aid kit to help teach diversity and understanding. It is all part of the national "Teaching Tolerance" campaign and continues to be distributed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and sent to every public school in the country to help combat hatred.
Recent projects
Davis wrote a couple of songs and recorded with
Davis has also done residency programs for the
More recently, Davis appeared in the PBS special on the jazz and blues artist Howard Armstrong. His father Ossie Davis was a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, at which he received a medal alongside other recipients such as Warren Beatty, Elton John and composer John Williams from the President of the United States.
Davis appeared at New York City's Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in a history of the blues concert, "Evolution of the Blues", along with Michael Hill (Michael Hill's Blues Mob), Paul Peress, and Paul Ossola.[5]
He also performed with Pete Seeger and Tao Rodríguez-Seeger at select venues, including a benefit concert that took place at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland in August 2008.
In 2012, Davis released an audio play called The Adventures of Fishey Waters: In Bed with the Blues. It is a compilation of "historical" tales in the form of a play accompanied by Davis in song.[6]
In November 2016, Davis joined forces with fellow American Brooks Williams for a UK tour entitled 'Inside The Delta', a showcase of the many varied styles of the blues.
in 2017, his album Sonny & Brownie's Last Train with the Italian harmonicist Fabrizio Poggi received a Grammy Award nomination for best traditional blues album of the year, award won by Blue & Lonesome by the Rolling Stones.[7]
Awards
- Davis has received three Blues Music Award nominations as well as the Blues Foundation's "Keeping The Blues Alive" award in 1993 including:
- 1991 BRIO award[9]
- 1993 AUDELCO Award for Best Actor[10]
- 2017 Grammy Award nomination for best traditional blues album of the year with Sonny & Brownie's Last Train with Fabrizio Poggi.
- 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album for Be Ready When I Call You[11]
Discography
- 1978: Dreams About Life (Folkways Records)
- 1984: Beat Street
- 1993: Guy Davis - Live, 1993 (The Music Hall)
- 1995: Stomp Down Rider (Red House Records)
- 1996: Call Down the Thunder (Red House Records)
- 1998: You Don't Know My Mind (Red House Records)
- 2000: Butt Naked Free (Red House Records)
- 2002: Give in Kind (Red House Records)
- 2003: Chocolate to the Bone (Red House Records)
- 2004: Legacy (Red House Records)
- 2006: Skunkmello (Red House Records)
- 2007: Down At The Sea Hotel (Secret Mountain)
- 2007: Guy Davis On Air (Tradition & Moderne)
- 2009: Sweetheart Like You (Red House Records)
- 2012: The Adventures of Fishy Waters (Smokeydoke Records)[6]
- 2013: Juba Dance (DixieFrog Records)[12]
- 2015: Kokomo Kidd
- 2015: Sonny & Brownie's Last Train with Fabrizio Poggi - Grammy Award nominee 2017
- 2019: Gumbo, Grits & Gravy[13]
- 2021: Be Ready When I Call You
References
- ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Guy Davis". AllMusic. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ Interview, Americana Music Show #280, published January 5, 2016.
- ^ Neuner, Allen (June 20, 2022). ""Guy Davis is a master storyteller, and a mean musician"". Out In Jersey. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ Charlie B. Dahan (September 15, 2004). "Guy Davis: Legacy (2004)". All About Jazz. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
- ^ "TWI-NY, This Week In New York". Twi-ny.com. September 12, 2003. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
- ^ a b "Bman's Blues Report: Smokeydoke Records artist: Guy Davis - The Adventures of Fishy Waters - Review". Bman's Blues Report. February 3, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
- ^ [1] [failed verification]
- ^ a b "2014 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Winners". Blues.about.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
- ^ Marc Waldman. "Poconos Blues Fest a talent magnet: Multi-talented Guy Davis charts own path," Morning Call July 29, 2007, retrieved from ProQuest database July 2, 2011
- ^ "Guy Davis, AUDELCO award winner in `In Bed with the Blues'," New York Amsterdam News January 22, 1994
- ^ ""Guy Davis Nominations"". Grammy Awards. 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ "Guy Davis - Juba dance". Bluesweb.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
- ^ [2] [dead link]