ISBN 9780786685844. 8.75 x
11.75 inches.
Rev. Gary Davis is the real
thing. The authentic blind-
seer. He is a genius with a
brightly burning spirit,
enormous musical intelligence,
technical brilliance, an
encyclopedic memory, driving
passion, deep faith, a raunchy
and gracious sense of humor. A
mystic. He is an icon of the
style of guitar he was born
into, known today as the
Piedmont blues. Through
players of the first half of
the twentieth century like
Alfred Shultz, Mose Ranger,
Merle Travis, and Chet Atkins,
this is the signature American
fingerpicking style that would
so deeply inform the country,
folk, blues and even rock and
roll of our day. Rev. Davis
(1896-1972) was born black in
deep poverty in South
Carolina, blind from an early
age. He overcame these longest
of odds to become world
famous, a giant of American
music. He brought together
black and white styles,
country gospel, folk themes,
blues, jazz, ragtime, minstrel
songs, dance tunes and popular
song. He developed his own
brilliant fingerpicking style
that was deep, economical, and
adaptable enough to easily
cover all these genres.
Supporting all hiscreativity
was an unshakable faith that
pulled him through the
obscurity, the bitter hard
times and crushing poverty he
would endure until the folk
music awakening of the fifties
and sixties caught up to
him.In this book and
accompanying audio, Ernie
Hawkins has transcribed 18 of
Rev. Davis' best known gospel
arrangements. The playing of
Rev. Davis has influenced
generations of guitar players
from Blind Boy Fuller to Dave
Van Ronk, David Bromberg, Ry
Cooder, Jorma Kaukonen, Bob
Weir, Stefan Grossman and
Woody Mann. His tunes have
been recorded by a host of
today's finest rock musicians:
The Grateful Dead, Hot Tuna,
Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and
others.
