From: "Doug Bright" <75366.2463@compuserve.com> To: Subject: Article, January, 1982 Date: Friday, April 15, 2005 2:33 PM A NEW COUNTRY IN TOWN: THE BOBBY DAVIS BAND By Doug Bright From HERITAGE MUSIC REVIEW: January, 1982 Things weren't always as they are now. It used to be that when a tavern owner told you he was featuring country music, you could count on getting the real thing or at least something tolerably close to it. Not so today. Today when the same club owner says he's got a country band coming in, you have to cross-examine him like Perry Mason to find out if he really knows what he's talking about. However, one glowing exception seems to be the Flame and a group with a refreshingly country sound. They're called the Bobby Davis Band, and they've recently established Seattle as home base. It all started with two brothers from, of all places, Los Angeles. Bobby Davis plays rhythm and lead guitar, and his voice is mellow and laid back but satisfyingly country. His selection of material shows a definite preference for Merle Haggard, and his guitar breaks are characterized by a Roy Nichols sound that seems to come right off the Haggard records. However, he doesn't stop there. If you ask him for "Wildwood Flower", you'll find that he's equally at home with the Merle Travis fingerpicking style. Bobby's brother Bill, who also performs with him in duet situations, handles the rest of the instrumental solos on steel, fiddle, second lead guitar, and believe it or not, organ. His steel guitar work is of a quality that you usually hear only on record. In his unpretentious and economical way, he squeezes every last drop of feeling out of every phrase, making full use of the pedals to provide a rich chord harmony behind Bobby's vocals. He seems to have perfectly grasped the lesson that too many musicians never learn at all: that the essence of country music and the source of its emotional power is simplicity of melody and harmony. His approach to the organ reflects the same harmonic simplicity and richness of tone, although his effectiveness is somewhat reduced by the natural limitations of the instrument. After all, you can't slide from one note to another on a keyboard. The fiddling is better in an accompaniment context than it is up front. Tunes like "Orange Blossom Special" are marred by indefinite melody lines and an irritating shuffle bow style that sounds more like Pike Place Market than Nashville. The rhythm section--bass and drums--is solid and precise, present but not undesirably dominant. The vocal blend is one of the most exciting aspects of the Bobby Davis sound. Bill fills in most of the back-up harmony behind Bobby, and his approach to vocal harmony exemplifies the same country authenticity as his steel guitar work. If that weren't enough, the band is further enhanced by a very fine young vocalist from Oklahoma by the name of Linda Bennett. She does one of the best renditions of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" that I've heard in a long time, and "Help Me Make It Through The Night", a worn-out tune if there ever was one, sounded as sincere and compelling as if it had just come out last week. The band shows unusual vocal potential, going so far as to incorporate four-part harmony on the Oak Ridge Boys hit "Elvira". Now what do you suppose would happen if they ever decided to tackle some Statler Brothers material? I, for one, can hardly wait to find out. To sum it all up, the Bobby Davis Band offers a refreshing alternative to the loud "country rock" and boring "country variety" that seems to dominate the Seattle music scene. Though the material is relatively contemporary, the sound is as honest and down-to-earth as country music itself. Listening to this band, I concluded that this must be the way things are down in Texas where, as Willie says, "ain't nob'ody feelin' no pain." ----------------------------------------