One guy who often gets left out of the conversation is Little Sammy Davis. I don't know much about him, except that (as I've been told) he comes from the Mississippi Delta and he ended up living in the Hudson River Valley, so he was a part of the New York scene. I shared a stage with him once at a fundraiser out in central Jersey.
Here's a nice video:
He always struck me as a really good second-tier player: not a Little or Big Walter, not a real innovator, but absolutely a part of that original scene--whether or not he actually lived in Chicago; you tell me; you're the experts--and therefore somebody who had much to teach us.
If asked, I'd have placed him in the same category as Good Rockin' Charles. High B-list. I mean no insult by that. I just mean that he doesn't have an immediately identifiable sound. Actually, his sound here reminds me of--and could be confused with--Snooky Prior's.
But I know little of his recordings from back in the day, or even whether he HAD any recordings back in the day.
Share info and thoughts, please.
Edited almost immediately to add: When you hear the stuff he does at the very end of this short clip, you realize that he still has some great chops. And of course he has PESONALITY, which is evident even from this short clip. He's holding down the fort. Good to have him on the scene.
Here's his MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/littlesammydavisbluesband
His PR people have misspelled the name of his hometown. It's Winona, not Wynona. (Try googling the misspelling.) I drive past the exit every time I head south on Rt. 55 to Jackson.
Last Edited by on Oct 29, 2009 8:03 PM
There's some neat recent stuff on YouTube of him playing with Levon Helm. Bunch of old cats looking like they're having a great time and sounding pretty good doing it. Ain't nothing wrong with being high on the B-list if you get to play those parties, I'd say.
Adam, have you listened to Lee McBee and the Confessors at all? Super-solid harp player (actually really darn good) and great vocalist in KC that plays harp blow outs with RJ Mischo in that area. Good stuff. Big in Texas for a while too. -Bob
He has some real good chrom stuff too if I remember correctly and I've seen a cd with his name in the past titled I " Ain't Lyin'" ... ---------- DutchBones Tube
Little Sammy Davis put out a solid blues release on Delmark back in the late '90s called "I Ain't Lyin'". He seemed to be a good journeyman harp player. Nothing fancy, just well chosen notes that proved he knows his way around the instrument. I'm with Bob--his singing on that disc outdistanced his harp skills a bit. It was a well received CD by the critics and Don Imus' frequently had him on his radio program Imus In The Morning as his favorite performer. Age has slowed him a step or two, but some recent iTunes that I downloaded last month shows that his passion overshadows what time has diminished. Good Rockin' Charles is a great comparable artist, Adam.
Sammy lives up in the Woodstock area. He has been the house harper for the Levon Helm Midnight Rambles. He has been suffering from some ill health in recent years and was not playing for awhile... but I THINK he is starting to make some shows again. You may want to check Levon's site for current info. Sammy likes to play it with his nose!!! ---------- Big Nancy www.bignancy.com
