The Daily Times
Jimmy Davis finds reward in doing music his way
By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
Maryville, TN
May 2, 2008
It wasn't hard for Jimmy Davis to figure out when, exactly, his music crossed over from mainstream appeal to that of a cult artist.
After all, "Kick the Wall," by Jimmy Davis and Junction, got some airplay and even a video in rotation on MTV. But when the whole pop-rock thing ran its course and he returned to what satisfied him the most, it wasn't before long that his ticket got punched with the trappings of a cult singer-songwriter -- a small but diehard fanbase, a wheelbarrow full of critical praise ... and no interest at all from commercial labels or radio.
"Yeah, I figured it out when I couldn't get a record deal," Davis told The Daily Times this week with a chuckle. "When I first tried to get a record deal, I got one, and I made a pop record. When that kind of ran its course at the end of the '80s, I kind of changed direction, and I just thought, hey -- I'll get another deal doing more roots kind of music. And everybody thought I was crazy.
"I went to Nashville, but back then, I was still too rock. Three or four years later, I was too country. I think it's more all of those things changing than me, though. There's a world out there that exists of radio, and it's getting smaller and smaller, and now we have this satellite thing. Even though it's great and they're playing more independent artists, there's still only so much time people can get played on there.
"That's the game that goes on in Nashville. It takes a real commitment to be a part of something like that, because it's so ladder based, and if you get in and don't stay in, somebody's going to take your place. It's hard, and it's not for some people. And for more independent-minded people like myself, it's more important to do what you want and what you like. It's just more satisfying as a creative person than any of that other crap."
When he first started out, Davis was content to play ball -- mostly because he was still finding his footing in music. That was in 1987, when "Kick the Wall" was released. As a solo artist, he returned home to Memphis and began fusing a myriad of styles into one that's his own. Along the way, he gained the respect of his peers, both as a performer (he's backed everyone from Jonny Lang to Iris DeMent to Oak Ridge Boy William Lee Golden to Bernie Leadon of The Eagles) and as a songwriter (his songs have been recorded by Martina McBride, Restless Heart, Joy White and others).
In 1996, Davis and his Junction bandmate, Tommy Burroughs, re-formed The Riverbluff Clan, a Memphis country-rock-bluegrass outfit from the 1970s. Under new guidance, the band released two albums, one of which earned a Top 20 spot on the Gavin Americana chart. A few solo albums here and there (2004's "Jimmy Daddy's Acoustic Song List" and 2006's "Campfire Songs") led to a collaboration with the famed Dickinson clan of Memphis -- uber-producer Jim and his sons, Cody and Luther, who make up the North Mississippi Allstars.
"Jim Dickinson, he changed everything about the way I think about music," Davis said. "I've always been a pretty independent spirit, but Jim really freed me up after my pop days about the way I thought about recording, about how it's just going to be what it is and how you should just let it go there. To me, that was the way to record and just be -- it made it fun again, because studio work was hard for me in the '80s, when it had to be so rigid and perfect."
Thanks to "studio rehab" by Dickinson, and the sour taste left in his mouth by a stint as part of the Nashville songwriting machine for a few years, Davis is more determined than ever to make his own way in the world. It may not get him airplay or legions of fans or Billboard hits, but that's OK -- it'll be music done his way, without compromise.
"When I was writing in Nashville, I would write all the time, but that's not writing for the sake of it -- that's writing to try and get something happening, and you never know if you're going to be successful with that," he said. "The way I see it, why not be honest with yourself, and if you're successful, you have the best of both worlds? That's why I want to play my music -- they're my songs, and I want to sing those songs every night and not what somebody has picked for me to record. And I'm going to keep doing that whether I have a record deal or not."
Originally published: May 02. 2008 3:01AM
Last modified: May 01. 2008 10:27PM
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Memphis Flyer
Have Dodge, Will Travel
by Andrea Lisle
June 1, 2006
"Local musician Jimmy Davis has been making the most of his time on the
road.
" I camp out when I'm traveling," Davis says, explaining that after
playing a Poplar Bluff, Missouri, club called the Wine Rack last weekend, he
pulled his Dodge Caravan into a favorite spot, climbed into his bunk, and communed
with Mother Nature.
" Only it was raining," he adds with a chuckle, "so I woke up
pretty early and drove back to Memphis."
Davis is currently touring hard, promoting his latest album, Campfire Songs,
released on his own Jimmy Daddy's Music label. This Thursday, June 22nd, he'll
be appearing at the Hi-Tone Café.
In the past year, Davis has logged more than 10,000 miles in his Dodge Caravan,
hitting clubs in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. "After a gig," he says, "I
like to drive a couple of hours to a favorite campsite or find a new place.
My van is rigged with a kitchen in the very back, so it's accessible by opening
the tailgate, and my bunk is in the middle. I don't know if it would work with
a bunch of musicians, but I love it. I'm getting to do my shows and live the
life I sing about."
The tracks on Campfire Songs -- Davis' second solo acoustic record in two years
-- took two decades to complete.
" This country is filled with these great stories that aren't in the history
books, stuff that's true Americana," Davis says. "I'm always looking
for those really cool folk tales that no one's gotten ahold of yet, that oral
storytelling tradition that country music is supposed to be about.
" Every year, I'd go out alone and come home with another song," he
reveals. "I actually wrote 'Tennessee' when I was 19, in Germany on a USO
tour, which was my first time away from home. Then I wrote 'Watching the Fire
Burn Down' right after that record-company crap. I was trying to redefine myself,
and I got a publishing deal and went on a camping trip and came back with that
song."
The "record-company crap" that Davis is referring to is, of course,
the dramatic aftermath of his 1987 major-label debut, the hard-rocking Kick
the Wall, which was released by MCA. That album -- and its eponymous single
-- quickly climbed the pop charts, but stardom proved fleeting.
" This is a frustrating business," he notes. "I thought that I
really wanted to be a rock star, and when they took that away from me, I didn't
know what I was supposed to do. At the time, music wasn't the most important
thing -- being a star was. I had to reexamine everything. My calling is music.
I started playing when I was 9 years old. I learned that there's more to life
than being a rock star."
In a bid to reclaim his equilibrium, Davis gravitated toward the music he first
learned to play -- simple, storytelling songs by country stalwarts Johnny Cash
and Tom T. Hall. In 1990, he entered Sounds Unreel recording studio with Jim
Dickinson and cut "Folsom Prison Blues" with mandolin and banjo. "Nobody
got it," he says with a wry grin, "and they thought I'd lost my mind.
But I was happy. I got off on the music, and it turned me back around."
With Campfire Songs to promote, and his new duty as trustee for the local chapter
of the Recording Academy to fulfill, Davis has plenty to contend with, so he's
enlisted Andria Cline of Skinny River Productions, who is booking him along
with local singer-songwriters Cory Branan and Blair Combest.
" I like being independent," he says, "but I don't like doing
all this other crap -- being a booking agent, a record label, and a publishing
company. I understand the business, but it takes so much away from my creative
side.
" If my life had gone the way I'd expected, I'd be retired by now," Davis
notes. "I wouldn't be a road dog. But I'm really happy. I like it."
...The Memphis Flyer
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RSVP - "Street
Seen"
Traveling Troubadour
by Amanda Dent
February 2007
"An old Ovation guitar sits propped up in Jimmy Davis' office. It's a little
scuffed and worn, but sound resonates just as clearly as it did more than 20
years ago when he bought it as a teen.
" That guitar's been all over the world," Davis says. And both he and
his guitar have plenty of fascinating stories to tell of their travels.
When he was just 19 years ol, Davis was playing a USO tour that landed him
in a German border town, performing for U.S. soldiers. "There were short
range nuclear weapons," he says nonchalantly. "They were 19; we were
19. Except that they were holding guns and we were holding guitars."
Now he limits his travels to silghtly less hostile environments. The Memphis
native plays coffee houses and festivals around the country, where he camps
out, whether it be in the woods or in someone's yard.
" It's not a gimmick," he says. "It's something I actually love
to do. I think if you're in bars and hotels constantly, it can get mundane. My
van is like one big covered wagon."
The avaid outdoorsman uses nature as his muse. Songs on his recent self-produce
solo album, "Campfire Songs," are just that, with many tunes telling
a story reaped from a personal experience camping or kayaking. The album is
country, but Davis has dabbled in rock, bluegrass and pop styles. He's a versatile,
sought-after vocalist and songwriter, having loaned his pipes to artists such
as the North Mississippi Allstars, Reba Russell, Johnny Lang, Jim Dickinson
adn Keith Sykes. Davis has penned songs for country icon Martina McBride and
Memphis songstress Amy Lavere, along with many others. Lately, he's tried his
hand at producing, most recently for local, up-and-coming band Giant Bear.
It's been an evolution from the days in the late '80s when Jimmy Davis & Junction
were MTV darlings with the rock hit "Kick the Wall." He later reformed
the River Bluff Clan with fellow Junction guitarist Tommy Burroughs.
" I like it all," Davis says of his musical taste. "It's one fo
the things I liked about the River Bluff Clan: We weren't limited. We played
our bluegrass with a rock sensibility."
Tinges of Davis' talents can be found in facets of the Memphis music scene,
whether in one of his side projects or his work as a trusteee with the Memphis
chapter of the Recording Academy. "Memphis, you can't really define," he
says of the music community. "It's kind of a birthright to mix it up." And
although Davis' music takes him to a wealth of destinations, all trails lead
that covered wagon back to Memphis.
... RSVP Magazine - Street Scene
Arkansas
Times
Sykes, Davis ..... Deliver
by Amy Brawner
March 2, 2006
"A big slice of Memphis music will be served up Friday, March 3, at the
White Water Tavern with headliners Keith Sykes and Jimmy Davis and duo Jed and
Kelley on their self-proclaimed “World Tour of I-40.”
Sykes has been a big mover and shaker in Memphis, hooking up with various artists
(for example, John Prine, the Judds, Jimmy Buffet) to write songs/perform with/produce
for them. (For Parrotheads: Sykes was the co-writer of your anthem, “Volcano.”)
It’s fun Americana, with some serious talent involved. For fans, it’s
probably up in the air whether it would
be more enjoyable to sit back and watch or get up close and personal with the
stage area. Some recognizable Sykes albums are “The Way That I Feel,” “I’m
Not Strange, I’m Just Like You,” “It Don’t Hurt to
Flirt” (our personal favorite), “Advanced Medication for the Blues,” and
most recently, “All I Know.”
Jimmy Davis is known for his work with his rock band the Junction and
has also been a big hoo-ha in the Mid-South area. Some may remember the song “Kick
the Wall,” which was featured on MTV in the 1980s.
Taking Junction guitarist Tommy Burroughs with him to form the Riverbluff Clan,
Davis expanded his repertoire to country and bluegrass-inspired rock and released
the albums “One Night in a Month of Sundays” and “Two Quarts
Low.” Now taking the solo route, Davis is spending time in the studio
for his next album, “Campfire Songs.”
Jed and Kelley, an acoustic country duo who’ve been compared to Buddy
and Julie Miller and whom Sykes produced, will open. “Lose to Win” is
Jed and Kelley’s latest album."
...The Arkansas Times
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