Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. His fingerpicking guitar style influenced many other artists. His students include Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Steve Katz, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Ernie Hawkins, Larry Campbell, Bob Weir, Woody Mann, and Tom Winslow. He influenced Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen, Keb' Mo', Ollabelle, Resurrection Band, and John Sebastian.
Biography
Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina, in the Piedmont region. Of the eight children his mother bore, he was one of two who survived to adulthood. He became blind as an infant. He recalled being poorly treated by his mother and that his father placed him in the care of his paternal grandmother. Davis reported that when he was 10 years old his father was killed in Birmingham, Alabama; he later said that he had been told that his father was shot by the Birmingham sheriff.He sang for the first time at Gray Court's Baptist church in South Carolina.
He took to the guitar and assumed a unique multivoice style produced solely with his thumb and index finger, playing gospel, ragtime, and blues tunes along with traditional and original tunes in four-part harmony.
In the mid-1920s, Davis migrated to Durham, North Carolina, a major center of 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. 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's career. During his time in Durham, he became a Christian. In 1933, Davis was ordained as a Baptist minister in Washington, North Carolina. Following his conversion and especially his ordination, Davis began to prefer inspirational gospel music.
In the 1940s, the blues scene in Durham began to decline, and Davis moved to New York. In 1951, he recorded an oral history for the folklorist Elizabeth Lyttleton Harold. who transcribed their conversations in a typescript more than 300 pages long.
The folk revival of the 1960s invigorated Davis's career. He performed at the Newport Folk Festival. Peter, Paul and Mary recorded his version of "Samson and Delilah", also known as "If I Had My Way", a song by Blind Willie Johnson, which Davis had popularized. "Samson and Delilah" was also covered and credited to Davis by the Grateful Dead on the album Terrapin Station. The Dead also covered Davis' "Death Don't Have No Mercy". Eric Von Schmidt credited Davis with three-quarters of Schmidt's "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", covered by Bob Dylan 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 Fred McDowell for "You Gotta Move" on Sticky Fingers.
Davis died of a heart attack in May 1972, in Hammonton, New Jersey. He is buried in plot 68 of Rockville Cemetery, in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York.
Discography
Many of Davis' recordings were published posthumously.| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
| 1954 | Blind Gary Davis – The Singing Reverend | Stinson | SLP 56 | First LP, recorded April 1954, with Sonny Terry, red vinyl |
| 1956 | American Street Songs | Riverside | RP 12–611 | Side A, Pink Anderson, Carolina Street Ballads; side B, Rev. Gary Davis, Harlem Street Spirituals, recorded January 29, 1956; also released as Gospel, Blues and Street Songs, Riverside RLP 12-148, Original Blues Classics OBC 524 and OBCCD 524-2 |
| 1957 | Pure Religion and Bad Company | 77 | LA 12/14 | Recorded June 1957 in New York City; also Folklyric 125; reissued as Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40035 with 2 additional cuts |
| 1960 | Harlem Street Singer | Bluesville | 1015 | Recorded August 24, 1960; also Original Blues Classics 547, Fontana 688-303-ZL ; renamed Pure Religion! and reissued as Prestige Folklore 14028 and Prestige 7805 ; remastered and reissued as OBCCD-547-2 ; reissued as Fantasy 24704 |
| 1961 | A Little More Faith | Bluesville | 1032 | Recorded August 10, 1961, at Van Gelder Studio, EngleWood Cliffs, NJ; also XTRA 5042, OBCCD-588-2; reissued as Fantasy 24704 |
| 1961 | Say No to the Devil | Bluesville | 1049 | Also XTRA 5014 and OBCCD 519-2 |
| 1964? | Pure Religion! | Prestige Folklore | 14028 | Also Prestige 7805, reissue of Harlem Street Singer |
| 1964 | The Guitar & Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis | Prestige Folklore | 14033 | Instrumental tracks, recorded March 2, 1964, Van Gelder Studio; also Fantasy OBCCD 592-2; reissued as The Blues Guitar and Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis, Prestige 7725 |
| 1964 | Rev. Gary Davis/Short Stuff Macon | Xtra | 1009 | |
| 196? | The Legendary Reverend Gary Davis, New Blues and Gospel | Biograph | 12030E | Also Blue Moon BMLP 1.040 |
| 1968 | Rev. Gary Davis at Newport | Vanguard | 73008 | Recorded 1965 |
| 1968 | Bring Your Money, Honey | Fontana | SFJL 914 | Recorded Cambridge, Mass. |
| 1970 | Reverend Gary Davis 1935–1949 | Yazoo | L-1023 | Also Yazoo CD 2011 as The Complete Early Recordings of Rev. Gary Davis and Document DOCD 5060 with 2 extra tracks |
| 1971 | Ragtime Guitar | Transatlantic | TRA 244 | Recorded 1960–1971; also Kicking Mule 106, Sonet SNKF 133 and Heritage HT 309 |
| 1971 | Children of Zion | Transatlantic | TRA 249 | Recorded 1962, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.; also Kicking Mule 101, Sonet SNKF 152, Heritage HT 308 ; also on Blues & Ragtime, Shanachie 97024 |
| 1971 | The Legendary Reverend Gary Davis, Blues and Gospel, Vol 2 | Biograph | 12034E | Recorded March 17, 1971 |
| 1972 | When I Die I'll Live Again | Fantasy | 24704 | Reissue of Prestige/Bluesville 1015 and 1032 |
| 1973 | Lo I Be with You Always | Sonet | SNKD 1 | Also Kicking Mule cassette tape ; reissued on Blues & Ragtime, Shanachie 97024 |
| 1973 | O, Glory – The Apostolic Studio Sessions | Adelphi | 1008 | Final studio album, recorded March 1969; reissued as Genes GCD 9908 with additional tracks |
| 1973 | At the Sign of the Sun | Heritage | ?? | 1962, San Diego, Calif.; also HT CD 03 |
| 1974 | Let Us Get Together | Sonet | SNKF 103 | Also Kicking Mule cassette tape |
| 1976 | Sun Is Going Down | Folkways | FS 3542 | Recorded 1966 |
| 1984 | I Am a True Vine | Kicking Mule | no number | Cassette tape |
| 1984 | Babylon Is Falling | Kicking Mule | no number | Cassette tape |
| 1985 | I Am a True Vine | Heritage | HT 307 | Recorded 1962–63, New York City; also HT CD07 |
| ? | Reverend Gary Davis | Heritage | CD 02 | Reissue of Children of Zion and Ragtime Guitar |
| 1988 | Blind Gary Davis | Document | DLP 521 | Recorded live, spring 1966, at Al Matthes, Toronto |
| 1988 | Blind Gary Davis 1962–1964, Recorded Live | Wolf | 120,915 | |
| 1988 | Blind Gary Davis at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., 1964—Afternoon Workshop | Document | DLP 527 | |
| 1993 | Rev. Gary Davis: Blues and Ragtime | Shanachie | 97042 | |
| 2002 | The Sun of Our Life: Solos, Songs, a Sermon 1955–1957 | World Arbiter | 2005 | Previously unissued session tapes and sermon from mid-1950s |
| 2003 | If I Had My Way: Early Home Recordings | Folkways | SFW40123 | Recorded 1953 by John Cohen |
| 2007 | Lifting the Veil: The First Bluesmen, Rev. Gary Davis and Peers | World Arbiter | 2008 | Unissued session tapes from 1956–57, recorded by Fred Gerlach & Tiny Robinson; liner notes quote a 1951 interview with Davis |
| 2007 | Reverend Gary Davis Live: Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964 | Document | DOCD-32-20-14 | Recorded May 8, 1964, Manchester, England |
| 2009 | Live at Gerde's Folk City, February 1962 | Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop | SGGW 114/5/6 | 3-CD set |
| 2010 | Reverend Gary Davis | Field Recorders Collective | FRC116 | Recorded 1952, New York City, by John Cohen |