Rev. Gary Davis - Biography
By J Poet
Reverend Gary Davis had three careers in his lifetime, any one of which would have made him an important figure in American folk music. In the 20s he played finger-style ragtime acoustic guitar, amalgamating the sounds of jazz, ragtime, gospel, hokum, minstrel and vaudeville novelty songs into a singular style. He played on the streets to make a living and the early songs he cut for the American Record Company are treasured for their musical purity as well as their rarity. In the 40s and 50s, after moving to New York as an ordained minister, he sang on the streets again, and recorded prolifically for Folkways, Stinson and Riverside. When he was “discovered” by the folkies in the 60s he became a mentor to a generation of middle class white kids and gave lessons to students that included Dave Van Ronk, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen and Taj Mahal.
Davis was born blind in 1896, on a farm in South Carolina “so far in the country you couldn’t hear a train whistle blow,” as he told Stefan Grossman in a 1970 interview. He learned to play guitar by ear, starting on an instrument he made himself out of a tin can when he was seven years old. By his teens he was playing “picnic dances” for both black and white audiences. He broke his left wrist sometime in his teens and it was never set properly, but its odd angle helped him invent unique chord positions. He learned to read Braille at the Cedar Springs School for Blind People in Spartanburg, South Carolina and married young. With his wife beside him, Davis traveled the south playing music on the streets eventually settling in Durham. In 1933 he traveled to New York with Blind Boy Fuller and Bull City Red make some 78s for the American Record Company. He got paid 40 dollars for 15 songs. When he found out his wife was cheating on him, he left her, and became an ordained Baptist minister. In 1940 he moved to New York and sang on the streets again, despite police harassment and people stealing his guitars. His playing on the streets helped him create clear, loud, ringing tone and a powerful vocal style. Davis became a minister at New York’s Missionary Baptist Connection Church, taught guitar and eventually began recording again. Pure Religion and Bad Company (1957 Folkways, 1991 Smithsonian Folkways with additional tracks) features both spirituals and blues, and a remarkable combination of comped chords and quicksilver finger picking. Gospel, Blues and Street Songs (1961 Riverside, 1991 Fantasy), a split LP with one side by Pink Anderson and one by Davis was recorded in 1956, but not released until later. When the folk revival started, a new generation discovered Davis and in the early 60s he cut three of his best albums: Harlem Street Singer (1960 Riverside, 1991 Fantasy), recorded in a single three hour session, Say No to the Devil (1961 Riverside, 1991 Fantasy) which includes some stellar 12-string guitar and harmonica work, and the all instrumental The Guitar & Banjo of Rev. Gary Davis (1964 Riverside, 1991 Fantasy). Davis tour England in 1964 and was invited to play the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. At Newport (1965 Vanguard, 2001 Vanguard) shows a 69 year-old picker at the height of his powers, playing songs he wrote that would become folk standards including “Samson and Delilah (If I Had My Way),” “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” and “12 Gates to the City.” He remained a powerful and popular performer and gave lessons to a generation of young men who went on to change the face of American popular music including Dave Van Ronk, David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen and Taj Mahal. He died while on his way to a gig on May 5, 1972.
There are dozens of reissues and collections of Rev Davis’s early recordings available including Blues and Ragtime (1993 Shanachie), Heroes of the Blues - The Very Best of Reverend Gary Davis (2003 Shout Factory) which includes cuts from every era of his career, If I Had My Way (1954 Folkways, 2003 Smithsonian Folkways) the first album Davis cut after coming to new York, recorded by New Lost City Rambler and folklorist John Cohen, and Meet You at the Station: The Vintage Recordings (1935-1949) (2004 Document, Austria.)