Search - Various Artists :: Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis

This project started as an attempt to celebrate the centenary of Rev. Gary Davis's birth, but turned into something more like herding cats. We now present to you twenty musical examples that include his early Greenville partner, Willie Walker, from whom Blind Gary undoubtly learned a few tricks; his earliest known student, Blind Boy Fuller, whose commercial success virtually transformed the post-depression blues world; and eighteen recent entries, who were either students of his, or who were taught by someone who was. The people on this CD are intened to be representative, but not exhaustive. This is because Rev. Davis was as much a teacher as he was a player, and he taught whomsoever presented themselves to be taught, for however long they were in his presence. If we had an unlimited budget and all the CDs in the world, we could present ten times as many people. When I first saw Davis in 1963, I flipped, I would assume the same holds true for all the performers whose works are reproduced here. Half the numbers were taken from existing CDs, including the two 78s. The other half were newly minted by the performers, and may turn up on their own CDs as time goes on. An effort was made to be as inclusive as possible: we have male and female, black and white, gentle and Jew, Canadian and American, and while most of the performers are living, some have followed Rev. Davis from this vale tears. Rev. Davis did not discriminate. His influence was broad, far reaching and lifelong. But most of all, it was personal. Of the twenty performers on this recording, the majority knew him well, a couple knew him peripherally, and the remainder would have sought him out had they had the chance. -Andy Cohen