I count myself extremely lucky to have seen Gary Davis up close and personal many times at the Ash Grove in the mid 60s. His singing made my hair stand on end, and his guitar playing left me gasping in awe. So glad these videos still exist.
This is likely the greatest video to see Gary Davis as the great artist he was. His chord progressions and finger picking are superb. His voicing always perfectly in synch with his playing. Both voice and guitar equally strong and mutually reinforcing. He has no equal as an original country blues picker. I was lucky to hear him in his apartment. I have never forgotten that evening, and we have seen so many young New Yorkers who dedicated themselves to his style of performance and became great in their own different ways. Dave Van Ronk, Steve James, Jorma Kaukonen, Happy Traum and so many more.
Twelve Gates to the City, Sampson and Delia(If I Had my Way), Cincinnati Flow Rag, Candyman, Sally where'd you get your liquor from, Buck Dance, She wouldnt say quit, Oh Glory, How Happy I Am, I heard the angels singing,
My guitar teacher when I was 18 introduced me to Gary Davis as the greatest player of all time. I believe the first song he played me was either "I'll Fly Away" or "Samson and Delilah". I didn't get it for the first however many bars, but after a while I got swept away by his groove, and his cascading polyrhythms. I think my teacher was right. In many respects the Rev. was the GOAT.
This is whole next level difficult, sophisticated and brilliant. Few recognise the greatness of Rev Gary Davis, no one alive can do anything remotely near this!!!
Modern Music is like a dust molecule compared to Southern Black men. Blind fuller and Blind Blake still amazes me with their sounds:) Welcome to the good side of RU-vid ✨
Rev. Gary Davis, Gary Davis, Blind Gary Davis, Blind Rev Gary or just Gary - Its all good. Never got to hear him live but did get to see him with Annie Davis at their home in Queens after his passing she gave my friend and myself each one of his harps. When I feel the blues all I have to do is listen to him.
Shure hope someone gets a time machine runnin soon ,coz I'd love to go back and give this fella ALL THE CREDIT AND AWARDS HE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN and a GREAT BIG HUG! ( Am Shure The Maker gave Him Everything and more, in THE KINGDOM in The Sky!)
He taught many aspiring musicians in the NYC area on how to play in his style. Most notably the guitar player with Hot Tuna. I can’t spell his name. Another one was Stephan Grossman. Stephan later taught folks like me with instructional cassette tapes. I learned how to play a few of Rev. Davis tunes. This was back in the nineties when I learned these songs.
@@roberthamlin6638 ….yes I too learnt a lot from Grossman and his Kicking Mule albums back in those days when the records came with a tab book….long before RU-vid etc….and I still play them now, including some of the Rev Gary Davis songs….I use more than one finger though! (and I’ve never liked using a thumbpick).
@@emlyngriffith5846 yes I pick in a hybrid style. Pick in my thumb and index finger and also use my middle and ring finger. I had one of those books that came with the square nylon record. It was an instructional book called Traditional, country bottleneck blues guitar by Arlen Roth. I learned so good stuff from it.
I loved to see him play 'Candyman' (starting about 7:32). Was hoping he'd sing it but he just kept picking and didn't open his flytrap. Anyway thanks very much for posting this, really enjoyed it.
He would never sing 'profane' songs Ted - his wife would give him hell :-) Then I hear him sing 'she wouldn't say quit' - I bet he was given a hard time about that one!!! Sat at his feet in '66 and heard so many stories - made a massive impression on me
People in those days were more down to earth, not like today were everyone wants attention and thinks she/he is the greatest thing to be born to god's green earth
CANDY MAN Album : Fairytale Donovan Candy man, he's been and gone My Candy man, he's been and gone My Candy man, he's been and gone. Now I love everything in this Godalmighty world God knows I do. Peppermint stick got a little brass band I got a peppermint stick I got a little brass band I got a peppermint stick I got a little brass band And I'm goin' down to the gate to score the Candy man stand. Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer 'Cause I love everything in this Godalmighty world God knows I do. Candy man, he's been and gone My Candy man and his name was John My Candy man he's Morocco bound Now I'd give everything in this Godalmighty world To bring my Candy man home. Black skin man give me some bad brew Oh black skin man give me some bad brew Oh black skin man give me some bad brew Now I'd give everything in this Godalmighty world To bring me my Candy man home. Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer Run fetch a pitcher get the baby some beer 'Cause I love everything in this Godalmighty world God knows I do. Candy man, I love the man, Yeah the Candy man, he gets me high My Candy man, yeah I love the man, And I'd give everything in this Godalmighty world To bring my Candy man home
Yeah, I don't know if you are taking these down yourself, or got them elsewhere ? It's " Black skin man give me bad deal " a reference to the poor treatment dealt out to punks like him in London in the 60s, when shopping for inspiration. I'm going to check the baby line in a minute, and if you are wrong about that too, there will be trouble ..... Good one, I'd never heard that - I have only known it for about fifty five years ! I heard " fetch a pitcher kid, and bring some beer " .
It's fascinating to see how the art of the guitar has developed over the decades. Compare Davis' playing with one of the current geniuses, an extremely odd fellow who calls himself 'Buckethead' -- Here is an introduction to his playing. The music is atrocious but try to watch it once through just to appreciate what he can do with his fingers and his mind: Young Buckethead is God
He is right up there with Blind Blake, who is slightly better. Rev. Davis was the guitarist's guitarist. Any top guitarist, certainly all of the electric guitar gods of the sixties and seventies, were well aware of this man and his acoustic blues contemporaries. Some were even taught by him. He and the others were hugely influential.
Standard tuning but very precisely out of key. Dave Van Ronk wrote that he used to try to sneak around Davis when he wasn't looking and tune his guitar correctly, and Davis would recognize it immediately and tune it back just ever so slightly to get that dissonance.
@@user-fr2hv3ip6f There is no way to tune a Guitar so all chord shapes sound correctly (according to the overtone series) anyways, a tuning in 12 steps will always be a compromise when it comes to that. You can temper standard tuning so either the C,A,G,E or D shape chord sounds more harmonious, making the others more "off". Bluesman like the Reverend often played with a slightly flat 3rd of the chord (playing around the E chord, thats the G string). If one plays with vibrato it can also make sense to have one string slightly flat, because bending can only bring the note up. If the starting pitch is slightly flat, one can go through and around the target note like a singer would. When there is no flat note to start with, you can only do such a vibrato starting in a bend, which is quite difficult, or violin style, which can't really be done slowly. Electric guitarists have their trusty tremolo bar for those kinds of notes.. :D
Primitive you know!!😂😂😂 Do you know how many modern blues players this man taught. It's disrespectful. I can't think of one bluesman that deserves the title primitive...what the f@@@? There is more sophistication in his right hand alone than most modern players that can only use a pick. In his left hand he effortlessly weaves bass riffs chords and melody while singing with more soul and conviction than 99.9% of the population. All while being blind... Primitive... Charlie Patton Blind Blake Blind Willie Mctell Son House Primitive? Is Stevie Ray Vaughan also primitive? Eric Clapton?
Great to see this video. Watching David Bromberg play makes me see how we took so much from his lessons with the Rev. Gary Davis to heart. This guy basically invented this style of picking. Practice Practice Practice. Love this stuff!
11 лет назад
What a talented musician he was ! Strong and still Folk...
I remember driving him to some gigs in London way back. When he was in my house, he would just sit alone playing. Unfortunately I didn't know how famous he was at the time!
My mom used to sing in a folk group in the '60's and one of the fellas used to sing "Twelve Gates to the City". I never knew Davis sang it and certainly never thought I'd ever see a video of him performing it. More like testifying it. Thank you very much for posting this.
I should also state that they were pretty pissed off about it. Because the guy is nothing like Van Ronk. They used Van Ronk's book as the basis. But the character, who is essentially messing up, is nothing like him. Some people are not impressed by the Coen Bros saying that. They hated the movie as a result. These are people who were actually there in the village in the early 60's.
mysteryjesus I was a student in those days right there in Greenwich Village and it was a joyful, optimistic time of musical revival of American roots music. People were into traditional folk and blues and we were all trying to emulate Rev. Davis, Merle Travis, Dave Van Ronk, John Hammond Jr. and all the other great finger pickers. The Coen Bros got it completely wrong with that stinker-roo of a movie that failed to capture the spirit of those great days..
