Gary Davis learns guitar, banjo and harmonica before the age of six. He played ballads and blues, recording under his own name and behind Blind Boy Fuller, who greatly influenced him. In his early thirties, he lost his sight in a bar brawl. He then devoted himself exclusively to religion, performing only spirituals. A street singer in the Carolinas before moving to New York in 1940, he became a fiery and vibrant preacher, punctuating his sermons with fast, precise and loose finger-picking guitar solos. A familiar figure in Central Park and Harlem, he befriended Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. The folk boom that swept through New York in the '50s enabled Gary Davis to record an abundance of magnificent albums for Stinson, Riverside, Prestige-Bluesville, Folkways and Biograph. In his youth, he had played a considerable role in defining the East Coast blues style often referred to as "ragtime blues". In New York, he became a demanding teacher who welcomed countless apprentice guitarists (Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Donovan, Jorma Kaukonen, Larry Johnson...), including Stefan Grossman, who wrote a guitar method that studied Gary Davis's original, virtuoso style in depth.
G.H.
