Rolling Stone:
"Why have we never heard of this guy?"
Chicago Tribune:
"Davis’ singing and harp playing can send chills down your spine."
Rhythm & News:
"It’s not a exaggeration to say that he was the highlight of the show for most of the crowd, and I think a lot of people felt the excitement of discovering something really special that not everyone knows about yet. His playing was enough like Little Walter’s to impress even the staunchest harp fan with his feel for Walter’s tone and nuance, but different enough to let you know that Sam is his own man."
Blues Magazine:
"Davis as singer and harp player has the charm of Williamson. He plays with authority and variety, no doubt learned over years of sitting in with others, yet Davis has a to-date sound."
Little Sammy Davis doesn't let adversity get him down
By Steve Israel
Times Herald-Record
Posted: April 12, 2009 - 2:00 AM
Little Sammy Davis' grandmother, a slave in Mississippi, never saw her grandson grow up to play the blues with greats like Muddy Waters, Elvis Costello and Levon Helm.
She never got to see him win the blues equivalent of a Grammy — the W.C. Handy Award — or hear him sing on radio's "Imus in the Morning."
But Little Sammy Davis' grandma — "Martha Sanders," he tells you, enunciating each syllable — taught her grandson deep, bedrock truths.
New recording
Little Sammy Davis will have a CD release party at 8 p.m. April 19 at the Corner Stage, 368 East Main St., Middletown.
They're as much a part of his long, hard road of life as the bluesy harmonica he began playing on the dusty streets of Winona, Miss., more than 70 years ago.
Listen: "You got to be real particular picking cotton to let it grow; you don't want nothin' to crowd it," he says, sitting in his Port Jervis apartment.
And then there's this bit of folksy wisdom:
"I stepped on a light bulb walking home once, and I had three miles to go," says the man who didn't own a pair of shoes until he was 12. "Then my grandma got some clay and put it on the cut. Heals you right up."
Little Sammy Davis, 80 years old and recuperating from a stroke that's left his memory "kind of a struggle," learned one truth from his grandmother that rings truer than ever, especially on this holy day of Easter:
The power of prayer.
"I learned my prayers from her," he says. He recites: "Our Father, who art in heaven "¦."
Sammy Davis needed the comfort of those prayers growing up in his one-room, one-window shack.
As soon as he learned harmonica from some old Sonny Boy Williamson records, he played on those dusty streets — earning enough pennies, nickels and dimes to give grandma money for food and to "buy me a fat sucker" (lollipop).
But when a crowd gathered, a night watchman who carried a gun — "Mr. Shucks," Davis says, fairly spitting the words — would chase him away and call him "nigger."
"A hellish old man," Davis says.
Then, leaning forward:
"I know he went to hell when he died."
So after Davis' grandma passed — at 109 years old, he says — teenage Sammy packed two harmonicas, a pair of worn shoes, a pair of pants and a shirt. He hitched a ride on a truck full of squawking chickens and left Winona.
He cut logs in steamy Vicksburg, Miss., and played the blues in juke joints at night. He picked oranges in sweltering Florida. He played the blues at night there, too — with the great slide guitarist Earl Hooker, who took Davis to the hub of the blues, Chicago.
That's where Little Sammy Davis played with the greatest bluesman in history, he says, Muddy Waters — and, he says, the meanest, Howlin' Wolf.
Davis would make his way to Poughkeepsie — to be near New York City. He would get married, hold his wife's hands as she died from cancer and, because he was so sad, stop playing the blues. Instead, he laid bricks.
And he would pray — at night before he went to sleep and each morning when he woke.
"Our father "¦ deliver us from evil, deliver us from sin."
Little Sammy Davis was rediscovered in the late '80s.
Since then, he's enjoyed a renaissance that led him to sing and play harmonica with the former Band singer and drummer Helm, who's played with everyone from Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and calls Sammy "the best harp man since (Paul) Butterfield."
But in October, Little Sammy Davis suffered a stroke. His cat Fritz died. A few weeks ago, Davis went to see Helm perform on the same Woodstock stage where he had so often tipped his derby to cheering fans. He sat on stage, but did not play.
You might think that hard road of life got to Sammy Davis. And it might have, except that he's never forgotten what his grandma taught him some 70 years ago.
"Good prayers will help you through the days," he says in his Port Jervis apartment, flanked by a hospital bed, a huge "We love you Sammy" get-well card and his CDs, including the new "Travelin' Man."
"You talk to the good Lord and you tell him about your troubles. He'll straighten it out."
And then Little Sammy Davis picks up a harmonica from a worn black case on his bed.
He cocks his head and breathes into the mouth harp — just like he'll do at his CD release party next week, the first time he'll perform since his stroke.
He plays two songs that are so different, but tell you so much about where Little Sammy Davis came from and where he might be going.
The first sweet melody is "Dixie" — "Way down South in the land of cotton"¦.
The second jaunty tune has special significance on this day: "In your Easter bonnet "¦.
sisrael@th-record.com
Influences
Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, BB King, Elmore James, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Jr Walker, Jimmy Reed, Robert Johnson, Earl Hooker, Charlie Patton, Life, and Slim Harpo.
Little Sammy Davis is one of the last, great living Delta bluesmen. Born in 1928 in Wynona Mississippi, Sammy took up the harmonica by the age of 7. In no time he was entertaining on street corners and traveling medicine shows all over the south. Sammy left Mississippi on the back of a chicken truck and eventually ended up in Florida.
He joined up with many blues greats, including Earl Hooker, Pine Top Perkins, Ike Turner, and Albert King. For awhile, Sammy played in a band with both Earl Hooker and Albert King. However as Sammy puts it, “Unfortunately the band didn’t last but a few weeks,” as the two mighty rivals, Hooker and King eventually came to blows, dissolving the band. All totaled, Sammy spent nine years on the road playing with Earl Hooker. When Sammy finally parted ways with Hooker, he headed to Chicago where he played constantly and shared the stage with many greats, including Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Jimmy Reed. During that time, Sammy would often be called to front Little Walter’s band, “The Mighty Aces” when Walter couldn’t show for a gig.
Sammy married and by the late 1960’s he and his wife settled in the Hudson Valley region of New York State. In 1970, Sammy’s world was rocked when his wife passed away suddenly. Sammy faded from sight, put down his harp, and wouldn’t be seen or heard from for twenty years.
Around 1990, the rumors of an amazing bluesman playing harmonica in a Poughkeepsie barbershop reached the attention of WVKR radio personality Doug Price. As Price began spinning some of Sammy’s old records at the station, the hunt was on to find the lost bluesman. At the same time, Sammy began showing up at blues clubs where he was spotted by drummer Brad Scribner. Brad, along with guitar playing brother Fred were members of the band “Midnight Slim.” The three musicians bonded and the newly formed group, “Little Sammy Davis and Midnight Slim” began playing gigs and supplying background tracks for New York radio’s long running, “Imus in the Morning Show.”
Following their first appearance on “Imus in the Morning,” Sammy and the band earned high praise from the New York Daily News and became the official “House Band” for the Imus show. Playing everything from Delta and Chicago blues, to gems from Ray Charles and James Brown, “Little Sammy Davis and Midnight Slim” became one of Imus’ favorite and most frequent guests—often being the object of the “I-Man’s” humor and ire.
In 1996, Little Sammy Davis released “I Ain’t Lyin’” on Delmark Records. The critically acclaimed album was nominated for a W.C. Handy award, received the “Comeback Artist of the Year” award from Living Blues magazine, and received the "Little Walter Lifetime Achievement Award." Don Imus' liner notes for 'I aint' Lyin'-*
"The two most unlikely people to be in the same band, or for that matter, in the same room together, are Little Sammy Davis and Fred Scribner. Little Sammy, who is a blues singer in the tradition of the great Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters looks like a blues singer although he tells me he's never been in jail and does not have a drug habit. He does, however, have more harmonicas than teeth. And the broken-hearted women Sammy's left along the way easily outnumber his harmonicas. Women, I might Do add, who probably still like him about as much as I do. Which is a lot."Then there's Fred Scribner-the Midnight slim band's lead guitarist.In fact Fred IS MIDNIGHT SLIM-along with Sammy,of course.There are other People in the band but i have no idea who they are.Fred keeps kicking them out,so it's dificult to get to know their names.Also i might add,pointless.But back to Fred.Fred looks like he should be the manager of an Ace Hardware store.You know,the guy with the plastic pen holder stuffed full of Bics and two hundred keys hanging on his belt.And he's white.In fact,you can't be.But he can play the blues.Which i suppose proveswhat people can also get the blues-when they wreck theirBMW's,run out of polo shirts-whatever. The first time i heard the lead cut on this album,"I Aint' Lyin'",Sammy was sitting in my radio studio singing it with his headphones over his eyes.At first I thought he had a Ray Charles thing going on.I was relieved to learn the headphones simply did'nt fit.I loved the song.I still do.Both Fred and Sammy are as deserving as any two people i know of the success they are now enjoying.They indeed do belong in the same room,and together,but if i were Sammy,i'd insist on separate beds.-Don Imus[Imus in the Morning Radio Show"]
In 2000, their second album,“Ten Years and Forty Days” was released on their own label, Fat Fritz Records. In 2002, movie director, Arlen Tarlofskey chose Little Sammy Davis and Midnight Slim as the subject for a documentary, “Little Sammy Davis” which received critical accolades and appeared at film festivals around the world.
From the “House of Blues” in Hollywood and Boston, to the “Beacon Theater” in New York City, enthusiastic audiences turn out to see Little Sammy Davis perform live. In addition to “Imus in the Morning” being syndicated on MSNBC, Little Sammy and the band have been seen on, “Prime Time Live,” “The King Biscuit Blues Hour,” and Dan Akroid’s House of Blues Radio Show.”
In recent years, Sammy has been a regular member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and 2008 Grammy award winning Levon Helm’s band. Sammy and Fred have appeared as an opening act at Levon’s weekly “Midnight Rambles” at his famous studio showcase in Woodstock, New York. 2008 also found Sammy and Fred in Los Angeles recording songs for the upcoming “Mannish Boys” album on Delta Groove Records scheduled for summer release.
Little Sammy Davis currently lives in Orange County, New York and continues to sing and play harmonica as a member of Levon Helm’s band. He also plays gigs with Fred and his own touring band. As his eightieth birthday approaches, Sammy is happy and healthy as ever and receiving the recognition he so rightfully deserves.
Fiddlers Flea Market Needs bands to help promote the 'Help Thy Neighbor' campaign 2009 - support your local "AMERICAN" farmer! July 3rd through 5th!
BANDS - PLEASE - come and help support this by offering your music to share - lunch (hot dogs, hamburgers,chips & drink) in exchange for your services - must have full count by this Sunday so that we can get the shopping done!
As part of a new "Help Thy Neighbor" campaign for 2009 - Beginning July 3rd -Fiddlers Flea Market on route 17B in the town of Bethel offers free vendor spaces in an effort to help promote and suppport our local Sullivan County NY and neighboring Wayne county PA farmers. 10 10x10 spaces on our lot will be made available free of charge for the remainder of the season which ends in October. Vendors must have shelter and set up if so desired. Pop up tents and outdoor tables may be donated and designated strictly for the farmers use. They will be adorned with the words "Support your local farmer". The market is open Sat. - Sun. & Holildays - 9-5 every weekend rain or shine. Naturally, we don't expect the outdoor vendors to be here in the rain - so the farmers market will be weather permitting with no obligation on rainy days. Next year, we will establish an annual membership fee for minimal charge to each vendor of the farmers market. We're thinking along the lines of $200 per vendor for the entire year - would enjoy the feedback and look forward to making this work for you - our local farmers!!
♫♪♪ Hi From THE OFFICIAL BLEU OCEAN MUSIC PAGE! Thanks for your Friendship . And your posts . Bleu Ocean now on Facebook add me now . Do keep in touch and have a great week and weekend full of music and fun . PS DROP ME A POST ANY TIME From your Drummer Friend . BLEU OCEAN www. bleu-ocean.com I ENJOYED Your Site ! PS Come and hear my 2 NEW Videos I put on this week thou youtube . and let me no what you think of them thanks Keep me posted . THE OFFICIAL BLEU OCEAN MUSIC PAGE! The Place where my Music lives Today
Hey there...got your note...Fred I guess right? Well I hope you guyz are doing ok...and Tell Sammy I said hello right back! Peace Cazzy The Alien Bluez Dude
Saw your pic in the p.c.dispatch, I didnt know that you were at the festival last weekend, i would have stopped by to say hi! You look good though, glad t5o see your happy!
************** Diggin' that Travelin' Man trak,Sammy! I'm so honored I got to sing a lil "Red House" with you at that Alligator BBQ! Peace { o]====> Cazzy The Alien Bluez Dude
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