I've often said there's no such thing as a crap gig by a black American blues artist and this was no exception, however...
In West Yorkshire in a previous life I would regularly cross the border to Colne and Burnley for their annual blues festivals and - time and time again - there'd be a buzz around the latest bar-room rocker and his guitar skills, only to have any recollection of them obliterated within seconds of the headline act taking to the stage.
Guy Davis is one of those journeyman bluesmen who straddles country blues from the beginning of the last century through to Chicago's electric blues of the fifties. This meant he could turn up with a small band or a selection of string instruments and accessories. I'd have preferred a band of course, but the latter was fine also: two acoustic guitars (a six string and a twelve string), plus a harmonica and some heavy foot-tapping providing rhythm. And crucially no banjo, which features prolifically - though tastefully - on most of his albums.
The majority of the two sets were Davis originals, mostly from the album he was selling, but with a number of covers by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leadbelly and his obvious reverence for Leadbelly would prove significant. In his excellent book History of the Blues, Francis Davis (no relative) claims 'I know of no definition that answers, once and for all, whether Leadbelly was a folk singer or a bluesman.' Leadbelly was enormously influential on Woody Guthrie and some readers will have guessed where I'm going with this and herein lies the 'however.'
While I've no doubt much of the Barnard Castle audience will have relished the inclusion of a Bob Dylan cover, my own inclination is always how many black American blues artists did he not feature to include a song by one of the real darlings of the white, middle-class, middle-aged, square, straight media? I quite like Bob Dylan, (and I've never met a Bob Dylan fan who's bought as many soul albums as I've bought by their man), but that's never enough for his hordes of worshippers for whom such a statement is blasphemous and may well cancel you because of it, but he needs neither the money nor the exposure thank you very much.
I've no doubt Davis is a huge admirer of Bob Dylan but, if the first cover version was disappointing, the second was annoying and a third would have - regrettably - forced a speedy exit in protest, something he's claimed to do throughout his career. For the second consecutive Saturday night, I found myself at a concert ostensibly of black American music only to find the artist deliberately usurped by white media (what Zappa called radio music) icons.
He did a heavy number for Palestine following a lengthy apology to anybody who may take offence by it. He probably should have left it alone. Covid clearly also had - and continues to have - a big impact on him and he played a song for those who didn't make it. By way of lightening things up, somebody behind me asked for Kokomo Man and we were fortunate he was able to recall all the hilarious and risque lyrics.
So something of a rollercoaster ride. These artists are never boring, they always have great stories to share, they're naturally funny in amongst their life-weary wisdom, and they're fundamentally honest and decent. They're generally also extremely competent musicians, fine songwriters and soulful singers. Sadly, they're also becoming increasingly less frequent visitors to our shores and our area. Steve T
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