Guy Davis - Give In Kind (2002)

Review: Guy Davis has developed into a consummate bluesman. He's listened hard to classic Delta blues and based his style on it, without ever becoming a carbon copy of the greats. Instead they're his jumping-off point into something as individual as "Layla, Layla," where didgeridoo makes an appearance, or the poignant "Joppatowne." Equally adept on guitar, banjo, and harmonica, he's become a force of nature, with the ability to write a song like "I Don't Know" that sounds as if it had come directly from the '30s, alongside covers of Fred McDowell, Big Bill Broonzy, and Sleepy John Estes. The originals and older work mesh perfectly, the sign of a real bluesman. And, of course, he's capable of working the other side of the coin to blues, in gospel, as the closer, "God's Unchanging Hand," clearly shows. This is the tradition reborn and revitalized. Davis' support is wonderfully sympathetic, but he's completely at the center of things, the motivator and mover of this music, and a purveyor of the real blues. His lineage is obvious, and he's the new generation, doing it right and keeping it real.

Notes: Although this New Yorker is the son of actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, he sings as if he was not only born into a hard Mississippi life, but swallowed it piece by piece, each injury scarring his vocal cords on its way down. Add to that the buzzing acoustic slide tones he opens the disc with and the dark sentiments on the alcoholic's lament "Good Liquor" and the plea for remembrance "Six Feet of Cold Ground," and the result is Davis's most potent blues recording. When Davis's harmonica makes occasional appearances, it's as rich in emotional resonance as his frayed voice. The solo that tags "Loneliest Road That I Know," a take on Fred McDowell's "61 Highway," is especially expressive, blowing short phrases of fragile melody over an already moody bed of Hammond B-3 organ. Davis augments his music with a full electric band here, but it's his musicianship that leads the arrangements–sometimes into unpredictable territory. The roadhouse love song "Layla, Layla" is colored by Davis's didgeridoo playing, and he picks five-string banjo on his original spiritual, "I Will Be Your Friend." Another surprise is the finger-picked guitar tune "Honeydew Melon Rag," the kind of instrumental that jug bands used to perform on Memphis's legendary Beale Street 70 years ago. Davis also makes room for his folk-music roots in his blues, offering "Grandma Is Dancing" as a warm-hearted tribute to a matriarch, complete with a shaky, home-spun group melody on its chorus. Altogether, this CD's 15 tunes offer a pleasing, well-rounded overview of Davis's art.