Stars of Texas

Review - Campfire Songs

by Glenn Taylor
March 2007

"I met Jimmy Davis just a few weeks back when he stopped in with his friends, Jed and Kelly. They were on their way to Luckenbach and decided to drop by the Rev studios for a visit. After tuning up, they proceeded to knock my socks off with a impressive live performance on my radio show. Jimmy was kind enough to leave me a copy of his latest work, Campfire Songs, an album he says was born out of the magic that can sometimes occur 'round the old campfire. Now I'm a disc jockey, not a musician, but as a country boy who grew up around lots of musicians, I found myself spending many memorable nights around the fire, enjoying friends, fun and songs. Without question, those are some of the best memories of my life. Campfire Songs captures the very essence of those nights, with wonderful harmonies and tales that are born out of the spirit and wide open spaces of the west. Touches of Jackson Browne, Eagles, Crosby Stills and Nash and America are all woven into the fabric of the album, but instead of being just a nostalgic trip, the songs come across like a breath of fresh cool air. Mostly written on camping trips, while traveling, or hanging out on Bernie Leadon's back porch, Campfire Songs is honest- to-goodness Americana music at its very best."

My Space

"Review from a Fan in Oregon"
Worth The Wait

by Joey
May, 2007

Well I went to your website, and followed the links and got your albums. And it was worth the 20 years of waiting. Acoustic Songlist and Campfire Songs are now two of my most played albums, and my two youngest daughters (10 & 13) know at least 8 of your songs by heart. They have great taste, hopefully inspired by what I listen to, and think “Grandmother's Quilt” is awesome. My 13 year old also really likes the “Devil's Den”.
I mentioned in my last letter that the passion you sang with on your 80's album with Junction, was one of the reasons it was still one of my favorites after all these years. Both of the new albums are even more powerfully sung and just ring with sentimental value. It's seems without a doubt that each song carries a piece of you with it as it draws a picture for the listener. “Poor Man's Treasure” gives me goose bumps; “Grandmother's Quilt” brings a tear to my eye, and “Ruthless” is ingeniously clever.
I picked up the Riverbluff Clan albums too, and love them as well. The musicianship on One Night in a Month of Sundays is thrilling. How often do you have to put out fires on the banjo strings? I'm not sure even the best hair metal guitarist of all time (and I do so love cheesy heavy metal) could ever pick that fast. Great stuff.
Thanks for putting out albums that you are proud of, and sharing with the rest of us. Looking forward to more if you are so inclined.

Joey

Commercial Appeal

"Hot Sounds"

by Bill Ellis
June 23, 2001.

"The River Bluff Clan may have called it a day, but their spirit lives joyfully on in the charmed songs of Jimmy Davis ... " "Davis' 11-track solo outing, Jimmy Daddy's Acoustic Song List, finds the singer front and center with only his rhythm guitar. The results, however, feel less like a song-shopping demo than a modern-day field recording where the Delta Appalachia axis in Davis' country rock originals is whittled down to its earthy essence. If you didn't know Davis wrote or co-wrote all these songs, you'd swear such tunes as "Grandmother's Quilt", "Devil's Den", "Buffalo Road" or "Down Where the River Flows" had been passed down for generations. And no slight against the sorely missed Clan, but you may just end up preferring a tune like "Waiting in the Wings" in its more immediate rendering here yearning as high lonesome art. In lieu of arrangements, Davis' plaintively powerful vocals do all the suggesting, giving flight to melodies that echo like half-forgotten memories, half-remembered tears. Jimmy Daddy's Acoustic Song List is an unassuming triumph and as honest a record as you're likely to hear ... "

... The Commercial Appeal