Guy Davis Interview

By Dave Ruthenberg 

Publication: My Black Hollywood (March 2007 - not yet available)

"It is time for us to reclaim our cultural DNA."  

With that statement, bluesman, actor, stage performer Guy Davis explains his passion for not just performing the blues but using the blues as a teaching instrument as well. 

Davis is about to embark on a tour supporting his latest CD, Skunkmello, for the independent Red House Records label. While Davis is at ease explaining the cerebral aspects of his art, don't expect any deep meaning attached to naming his latest release Skunkmello. "I don't know where it came from. I just made it up and thought it sounded different and I knew nobody had ever used that name before," muses Davis.

It seems Davis also knows the formula for a successful CD. "When I proposed the name to Red House Records, they said 'no way!' and I knew the minute they said that that it would be a hit CD," Davis chuckles.

The latest effort from Davis is his most personally satisfying to date as well. "Up to this point I had been an artist that records. By that I mean a lot of the other tracks were laid down by others in the studio while I was out of town and I would approve them later after adding my piece to it. On Skunkmello we recorded the tracks live. We brought in more instruments (Davis' first release, Stomp Down Rider was strictly a solo affair with Davis singing and playing guitar and harmonica) to make it more radio friendly. When we hit the Midwest with our tour I will actually have a five-piece band."

Davis, the son of renowned actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, believes passionately in his primary chosen form of art but also understands why the blues has not necessarily been widely embraced by African-American audiences.

"The blues is alive but it is still an endangered species," Davis explains. "Black people, you have to understand, need to stay away from looking at the past because the past is the direction of pain; the direction of slavery." Because of this painful past, Davis continues, "We are very forward looking people. Our survival relies on creativity. That's creativity in ways of making a living and blues music traditionally looked at the back end of our lives. R&B had a different response because you could dance to it…church music had a different response because the community could form itself around the church."

"Consequently, I think a lot of black folks who had moved out of the south and off the farms and into the cities began to disassociate from the blues to a great extent."  But Davis feels, presented in the proper context, the blues can still grow in audience.

"A lack of exposure has resulted in a lack of awareness among the black music audiences. We have to reach out more and more to the black communities if we want to see our audience multiply in the next few decades." By no mean is Davis, a three-time WC Handy Award nominee, all talk. He continues to practice what he is preaching.

"A lot culturally has to be turned around. We need to show young blacks that there are positive forces and good role models in entertainment." Davis embodies that attitude particularly on a track from Skunkmello called "Uncle Tom Is Dead" where he fuses rap and blues to deliver his message to the kids:

 Blues is your legacy, you don't know history

You wear those baggy clothes on all your videos

Riding in a Hummer full of gangstas and ho's

Trying to be thugs, you're glorifying drugs

You need to go home to your mamas for hugs

 You stand here illin' but your blood's still spillin'

You laugh and you laugh 'cause you think it's so funny

Head full of crack and your nose all runny

Your brother's up in prison you give me dirty looks?

Instead of stealing radios, he should've stole some books

Here's an opportunity, a call for unity

Have you got the energy to save your community?

Davis has participated for several years in the "Blues in the Schools" effort, joined by other notable African-American blues artists such as Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb' Mo' and Corey Harris to name just a few who bring their music and the lessons of the blues directly to inner-city and urban schools with a great response. Davis also used a two-year residency at the Lincoln Center Institute to perform 30 concerts every year in his hometown of New York, performing the blues for children and educators alike and also teaches his craft whenever possible at both Antioch College in Ohio and Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.

"Early in my career, before agents and managers, I played for kids and will always do that. I play for kids in hospitals, I go to the churches and the prisons. I guess I am going to play until I drop dead. I love doing this and the more I do, the more good visits me. I couldn't imagine not taking the blues into these places and beyond."

Beyond indeed.

Davis has received worldwide acclaim in just about every corner of the world, from coast-to-coast to Europe and even Australia and New Zealand, Davis has found audiences accepting of his music and his mesmerizing story-telling prowess that accompanies his shows. "I think Japan may be about the only place doesn't know me," Davis remarks when recounting where is career has taken him thus far.

It's a career that has encompassed more than just the blues however.

Those who may remember the Harry Belafonte-produced 1984 movie homage to breakdancing, "Beat Street," may recall a young Davis in one of the starring roles opposite Rae Dawn Chong. Davis played DJ Kenny "Double K" Kirkland in "Beat Street" which has gained a cult-like following since its initial release and still garners respectable DVD sales numbers but unless you lived through that era, your perspective may differ, especially if it was your father playing the role of Double K.

"Oh man, my son got a DVD of the movie and he really enjoys mocking me every chance he gets now," Davis laughs. "I only wish I had been more wise to the business and more understanding of Hollywood at the time."  But Davis did land subsequent work in front of the camera with a recurring role as Dr. Joshua Hall from 1985-1986 in the TV soaper, "One Life To Live." "Doing a soap opera was like getting a big allowance and not having to do a lot of work," recalls Davis.

Acting is obviously in Davis' lifeblood and that has extended as well to successful on-stage runs which included the 1991 Broadway production of "Mulebone" and then later Davis appeared in his self-penned one-man stage production, "In Bed With the Blues: The Adventures of Fishy Waters" for which Davis, who portrayed a 1950's rural bluesman, received the Blues Foundation's coveted "Keeping the Blues Alive" Award. Davis also appeared in the 2000 film, "Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson," wherein Davis reprises a spirited rendition of the legendary Robert Johnson tune "Walking Blues," and in 2001 appeared in the limited release film, "Final" portraying a bluesman.

When queried, Davis indicates that he is not focusing on getting back in front of the movie or TV cameras at this stage in his career but is "working on some writing…some behind the scenes stuff. I am always writing really but right now that has to go on the backburner while I tour."

Ah yes, back to his passion. The Blues.

People may be surprised when they see Davis on his current tour mainly because of his choice of instruments, well one instrument in particular. Davis, who is a virtuoso blues guitarist (slide, steel, dobro - Davis can play them all and with an intensity reminiscent of the legendary Son House) and harmonica player, has dug back deep into the roots of the blues and is bringing the banjo, yes, the banjo, back to the fore.

"The banjo is starting to come alive again. I am starting to play it more and more in my shows. I joke that I am reclaiming the banjo for the black man, but it's no joke really. I want us to realize and know that the banjo reflected our past and hard times. It's the same direction that the blues came from…from hurting times and times of sorrow.  It's about survival. The music created on these old instruments is absolute treasure."

Davis continues, "Yes, the old songs may be about black folks eating chicken and eating watermelon but nonetheless they are strong songs of survival. Of surviving brutally hard times and it's that which we celebrate by performing the blues."

Clearly times have seen significant strides for African-American artists but Davis warns about complacency. "It's still tough. Some people, just by the fact that you see black folks on television, think 'yeah, we made it.' But black folks still struggle very hard," Davis says with a sense of urgency. "There were some pioneers that opened the door but there are so many doors that still need to be opened. Whether in the TV, film or recording industry, I know there are a lot of black artists that get recognition but for every black face you see up in the lights, there are a whole heap of faces laying in the dust trying to figure where their next gig is coming from, where their next meal is coming from."

So what advice does Davis, who has seen success on so many different levels, give to aspiring young artists? Well, he suggests a little larceny can go a long way.

"Whatever their art form, find the masters of their art form and steal from them!" Steal everything that is not nailed down. Steal it! Then once you have stolen it, work it, practice it, and then it will be yours."