Award-winning bluesman Guy Davis will be sharing the rich tradition of acoustic blues at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on June 6.
The North Shore Music Association will present renowned musician Guy Davis at 7:30 p.m. June 6 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
The roots of Guy’s blues are as diverse as the music form itself. It can be soulful, moaning out a people’s cry, or playful and bouncy as a hayride. He can tell you stories of his great-grandparents and his grandparents, of their days as track linemen, and of their interactions with the KKK. He’s a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer. But most importantly, Guy Davis is a bluesman.
Throughout his career, Davis has dedicated himself to reviving the traditions of acoustic blues and bringing them to as many ears as possible through the material of the great blues masters, African American stories, and his own original songs, stories, and performance pieces. His influences include the great blues musicians Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, Manse Lipscomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton, and Buddy Guy, among others. But it was through Taj Mahal that he found his way to the old time blues.
The son of legendary actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Guy taught himself the guitar and learned by listening to and watching other musicians. He made his Broadway musical debut in 1991 in the Zora Neale Hurston/Langston Hughes collaboration Mulebone, which featured the music of Taj Mahal. In 1993, he performed Off-Broadway as legendary blues player Robert Johnson in Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil. He received rave reviews and became the 1993 winner of the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive Award” presented to him by Robert Cray at the W.C. Handy Awards ceremony.
Guy has been nominated for nine W.C. Handy Awards over the years, including “Best Traditional Blues Album,” “Best Blues Song” and “Best Acoustic Blues Artist.”
For more information about the performance call the Music Association at (218) 387-1272.
Leave a Reply