The blues are all about expression, be it individual or otherwise. Many performers do things that they hope will appear expressive, but are really just mining an already well-worn playbook rather than giving audiences any insight into who they actually are as players and as people. Chicago area blues guitarist, vocalist, and band leader CARL DAVIS is the other kind of musician: a straight-up, no-frills, from-the-heart player whose music truly reflects his own life and personality. He has steadily built a name for himself in the Chicago blues scene over the past decade by writing great material, putting on as entertaining a live show as anyone in town, and by being the guy audiences and bookers alike want to see back in their favorite venues.
Davis is a regular sight, as a leader and as sideman for artists like the late Little Mack Simmons and Detroit Junior, in some of Chicago's best clubs, including Buddy Guy's Legends, House of Blues, Smoke Daddy,Harlem Avenue Lounge, and many others, always living up to his reputation as a party-starter no matter whom he plays with or where he happens to be.Davis is the rare musician who is true to the spirit of the blues, rather than clinging to an unchangeable script written years before he was born.
Although he began his career doing vintage post-war Chicago hipster blues,
Davis has evolved from that point into a more soulful R&B-influenced sound that at once speaks to modern listeners and allows him to be more of a songwriter. Davis' latest CD release, "Someday - Tribute To The Kid" on
212 Records, features ten original songs and shows Davis emrging as a bluesman for the 21st century. Davis has allowed his blues music to be influenced by more soul-oriented performers like Little Milton, Tyrone Davis, and Marvin Gaye and the result has been a move away from the shuffles of his past into the kind of rhythmic, funky grooves showcased on songs like "Number One," "Bad Time," and "Superman(Without The Tights)." His personality is still the same, however, and all those that dug Davis' straight-into-the-amp approach will undoubtedly like his newer material. He is still doing blues: the only real difference is that today, Carl Davis is doing the blues HIS way.
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