Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis also Blind Gary Davis ( April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972) was an African American blues and gospel singer as well as a renowned guitarist. His unique finger-picking style was influential on many subsequent artists and his students in New York City included Jorma Kaukonen (of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna), Stefan Grossman, Roy Book Binder, Woody Mann, and Ernie Hawkins. His musical influence, extends from the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan to Keb Mo, Olabelle and Resurrection Band. Blind Gary Davis has been regarded as a true teacher in guitar-picking styles because he used his knowledge and expertise to transform the culture of guitar playing. This teaching ideal, when regarded with the concept of initiating one's personal and spiritual transformation, requires a principled effort that expedites the art of cultural change.
Biography
Early life
Born in Laurens, South Carolina, Davis lost his sight at a very young age. He took to the guitar and assumed a unique multi-voice style, playing not only ragtime and blues tunes, but also traditional and original tunes in four-part harmony with a unique finger-picking guitar stylism.
Fingerpicking style
"Fingerpicking" (also called "thumb picking", "alternating bass" or "pattern picking") is a term that is used to describe both a playing style and a genre of music. It falls under the "fingerstyle" heading because it is plucked by the fingers, but it is generally used to play a specific type of folk, country-jazz and/or blues music. In this technique, the thumb maintains a steady rhythm, usually playing "alternating bass" patterns on the lower three strings, while the index, or index and middle fingers pick out melody and fill-in notes on the high strings.
The style originated in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as Southern African American blues guitarists tried to imitate the popular ragtime piano music of the day, with the guitarist's thumb functioning as the pianist's left hand, and the other fingers functioning as the right hand. The first recorded examples were by players such as the Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and Mississippi John Hurt. Some early blues players such as Blind Willie Johnson and Tampa Red added slide guitar techniques. Fingerpicking was soon taken up by Country and Western artists such as Sam McGee, Ike Everly (father of The Everly Brothers) and Merle Travis. Later Chet Atkins further developed the style.
Most fingerpickers use acoustic guitars, but some, including Merle Travis often played on hollow-body electrics.
Mid-life
In the mid-1920s, Blind Gary Davis migrated to Durham, North Carolina, a major center for black culture at the time. While there, Davis collaborated with a number of other artists in the Piedmont blues scene including Blind Boy Fuller and Bull City Red. In 1935, a store manager with a reputation for supporting local artists introduced Davis (as well as Fuller and Red) to the American Record Company. The subsequent recording sessions marked the real beginning of Davis' career. It was also during his time in Durham that Davis converted to Christianity; he would later become ordained as a Baptist minister. Following his conversion and especially his ordination, Davis began to express a preference for inspirational gospel music.
Later life
In the 1940s, the blues scene in Durham began to decline and Davis migrated to New York City. By the 1960s, he had become known as the "Harlem Street Singer" and also acquired a reputation as the person to see if you wanted to learn to play guitar. The folk revival of the 1960s re-invigorated Davis' career, culminating in an performance at the Newport Folk Festival and the recording by Peter, Paul and Mary of "Samson & Delilah." Also known as "If I Had My Way," it was originally a Blind Willie Johnson recording that Davis had popularized.
Legacy
Blind Gary Davis was a finger-picking guitarist who created a unique picking approach which has influenced performers such as Jerry Garcia, Stefan Grossman and Dave Van Ronk. Davis also excelled in sacred music to accompany his religious career and his religious works have been re-created by individuals such as the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. Davis would put his sermons into musical segments and sing his sermons which became better remembered by the congregation than if they were spoken to. Davis' legacy was his ability to communicate his religious ideas within a popular musical form and to illustrate his guitar playing with a tremendous finger picking technique.
Discography
Many of the records were published posthumously.
- Little More Faith, Bluesville Records, Dec. 1961
- Blind Reverend Gary Davis, Bluesville, Oct. 1962
- Pure Religion, Command, July 1964, (re-released in 1970s by Prestige)
- Blind Reverend Gary Davis, (different album of same name), Prestige, May 1964
- Singing Reverend, Stimson, (with Sonny Terry)
- Guitar & Banjo, Prestige, 1970s
- Ragtime Guitar, Kicking Mule
- Lo I Be with You Always, Kicking Mule
- Children of Zion, Kicking Mule
- Let Us Get Together, Kicking Mule
- Lord I Wish I Could See, Biograph
- Reverend Gary Davis, Biograph
- Compilation CD in 1991: Pure Religion and Bad Company
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Coclanis, Peter A.; Bruchey, Stuart Weems, Ideas, ideologies and socail movements: the United States experience since 1800, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. ISBN 1-570-03313-7
- Davis, Gary, Rev. Blind Gary Davis complete recorded works 1935-1949 in chronological order, Vienna, Austria: Document Records, 1991. OCLC 26636793
- David, Gary, The guitar evangelists, Vol 2, London: JSP Records, 2006. OCLC 71142712
- Terry, Sonny; Davis, Gary, Sonny Terry & his mouth harp [and] Blind Gary Davis, the singing reverend, Narbeth, PA: Collectables, 1995. OCLC 34427752
- Stambler, Irwin; Lyndon, Grelun, Folk and Blues, The Encyclopedia, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. OCLC 20865
External links
- RevGaryDavis.com, a site devoted to Gary Davis. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- RoyBookBinder.com, Roy Book Binder's official site. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- Davis biography on AllMusic.com Retrieved October 4, 2007.
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