3 CD Collection
1962-1967
Rev. Gary Davis

In 1962 I started to take guitar lessons from Rev. Gary Davis. Each weekend and school holiday I would take two trains from my home in Brooklyn up to Park Avenue in the Bronx. Rev. Davis’s home was hidden behind a worn out tenement building, down a flight of stairs where the garbage cans were kept and then up another small flight of stairs to a single dwelling that was surrounded on all four sides by apartment buildings.

To say it was “different” would be to understate the effect it had on me. But once the screen door was opened and the scent of White Owl cigars hit my nose I knew I was at home. The warmth, generosity and education that I found in this “country shack” in the midst of the great New York City has lasted me a lifetime.

This set of three CDs captures Rev. Davis at home and church - teaching, talking and philosophizing. The first two CDs are material recorded at his Bronx home. Religious songs, folk tunes, blues, rags and memories are included. The music ranges from the heavenly to the bawdy. The third CD features a service I recorded where Rev. Davis plays and delivers sermons.

Track Listing (Click for Samples)

Disc One (At Home):
1. Twelve Sticks 3:47
2. Sally, Where’d You Get Your Liquor From 1:52
3. Babylon Is Falling 6:36
4. What Could I Do 3:23
5. Children of Zion 7:05
6. Hesitation Blues 4:05
7. Candyman (on 5 String Banjo) 1:23
8. Steal Away And Pray 5:36
9. Goin’ To Chattanooga 5:02
10. Packing Up, Get Ready To Go 3:37
11. Untitled 0:39
12. You Cry Because I’m Leaving 4:16
13. Don’t Let My Baby Catch You Here 5:14
14. Lord Let Me Live Longer 2:21
15. I Want To be Saved 2:47
16. Waltz Time Candyman 3:17
17. Little Boy Who Made Your Britches 4:38
18. Talks about Verses Not Sung 2:21
19. C Rag 5:41
20. Two Step Candyman 2:51

Disc Two (At Home):
1. Piece Without Words 3:51
2. Lord Search My Heart 4:05
3. Slippin’ To My Gal Comes In Partner 2:56
4. Sun is Going Down 2:44
5. Raise A Ruckus Tonight 2:14
6. Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockefeller, Put the Panic On 5:59
7. Soon My Work Will All Be Done 3:57
8. You’re Gonna Need King Jesus 2:44
9. I’m Going Back To Jesus 2:02
10. Blues in C 5:12
11. Saddle It Around 3:00
12. People Who Use To See 4:52
13. Italian Rag 3:16
14. Candyman 4:24
15. Nobody Don’t Care For Me 3:12
16. Fox Chase 4:51
17. Talk on Blind Boy Fuller 9:39

Disc Three (In Church):
1. Amazing Grace 3:26
2. Sermon 3:11
3. I’m a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord 5:19
4. Sermon 2:40
5. Lord, I Feel Just Like Goin’ On 5:01
6. Steal Away 6:30
7. Can’t Make This journey By Myself 2:47
8. Sermon 17:56
9. I Will Overcome Someday 5:15
10. God Be With You 1:15
From the Mariposa Folk Festival:
11. I Got Religion I’m So Glad 7:56
12. I’m a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord 4:24

Review: South Carolina born Davis, over the course of a fairly lengthy career, developed African American country blues guitar music into a totally unique, entrancingly singular style all his own, equal parts contrapuntal complexity and imagination, that has had a pronounced influence on generations of musicians over the years, Stefan Grossman among them. In 1962, Grossman began taking weekly guitar lessons from the affable Davis in his Bronx “country shack,” continuing his education until shortly before the bluesman’s death in 1972.

Shortly after the studies began, Grossman began recording Davis in his tiny tenement apartment, at festivals and occasionally at his Harlem storefront church. This excellent sounding and generously timed three-CD extravaganza comprises 49 divinely diverse selections, taped from 1962-1967, that intimately reveal not only Davis’ breathtaking versatility but the astonishing breadth of his repertoire. Highlights include several variations of his signature “Candyman” (clawhammering the tune on five-string banjo as well as playing it as a waltz, a two-step and in regular 4/4 time), bawdy efforts such as “Hesitation Blues,” “Little Boy Who Made Your Britches” and the candidly witty “Don’t Let My Baby Catch You Here” as well as snappy revivals of Tin Pan Alley and Depression-era compositions like “You Cry Because I’m Leaving” and the cautionary “Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockefeller Put the Panic On.”

Also noted is a revelatory, 10-minute conversation between Grossman and Davis concerning the more commercially successful Blind Boy Fuller, who Davis mentored as they accompanied each other on the streets of Durham, North Carolina, along with the majority of disc three, which is part of a church service that provides a lengthy glimpse of Davis in his preferred role as a reverend – leading his congregation on heartfelt renditions of hymns like “Amazing Grace,” a resounding “I Will Overcome Someday” and “Steal Away,” all while offering the occasional sermon. The final two tracks, from an undated Mariposa Folk Festival, are in the same sacred vein. This is truly Davis at the peak of his powers. — Sing Out!

cdSGGW130/1/2  3 CD Set Regular Price $29.95 Special Price $24.95