World Blues: An Interview with Garrick Davis
(This is an excerpt. The full article and interview is available on AKR Magazine starting on page 64)
“They’ll say, it’s not really Blues. Well, no it's not what you think of Blues. But it is something that I do. It is a thing.” ~ Garrick Davis
“Since 2001 Garrick Davis has independently produced and released five full length albums as well as some singles. Davis' fifth album, "A House Full of Friends", that was performed and recorded live, alongside 15 musicians and vocalists from disparate backgrounds, brought together to make music andsubsequently made "magic", lighting the way for a new creative path on which to journey unabashedly. This creative path, now called “Garrick Davis World Blues” is working on new material that as a collection will be titled "The Dignity Project". Garrick’s influences include Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton (Cream), Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Johnny Winter and ZZ Top to be among his earliest influences as a young teen. Davis went on to discover the "sources" of those previously mentioned, including Son House, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Curtis Mayfield, Wes Montgomery and so many more.
My interview with Garrick Davis, both the transcript excerpt and the videos tell a poignant story of his journey and evolution through life as a musician and a father to his son who passed away in 2020 at the young age of 28. The evolving nature of Garrick Davis’s music and life can be explored more thoroughly throughout his Discography and on his YouTube Videos.
(This is an excerpt. The full article and interview is available on AKR Magazine starting on page 64)
Raine Jordan: Yes indeed, that’s what relationships are for, growing together. So, we were talking a little bit about your live album from the Golden State Theater in Monterey, CA. Would you call it an album?
Garrick Davis: It's an EP, an extended play. I did that just because I wanted to put something out again. I had forgotten that it was recorded on my phone. And, I just thought the energy was so good.
RJ: It was great energy.
GD: I have lots of recordings like that. So, my father told me a long time ago. First, the reason why I'm bringing my parents up so much…look, I'm a 65 year old man almost 66. They've meant so much to me and they mean more to me now in a way, but they have always meant a lot. I wouldn't be in this place if they hadn't said, “go for it and we'll always be there for you”. My father's phrase is, “daddy's work is never done”. I came to him when I was getting a divorce. I also wanted to do my first album, Glass Half Full, because I had told my son that I needed to follow through on a promise I made. I made it on purpose, so I would actually follow through. I made a promise that I'm going to do something. It cost a lot of money. I produced it all on credit cards. It was a nightmare. I just had to do it. We do what we doto get moving. My father always meant a lot because he had always loved the fact that I was into music and songwriting. It meant a lot to him. He had always loved music himself. He played drums as a kid.
RJ: So, your dad was a musician. Was your mom in music as well?
GAD: My mother's a classically trained operatic soprano.
RJ: I saw your post of her the other day. I think you were in the studio together. I commented on how much you look alike. But I think you said you look like your dad more so.
GD: Yeah, I'm a mix between both my dad and mom. So, I was talking about my dad and how important he had been to me. You know he was helping me feel like music is something I can do. After I did my second album in 2005, which is a live album, he said, “you should always record wherever you’re at in your life, whatever stage of life you’re in and I want you to keep doing this.” So that was a major thing for me. It was after the first album. I would go over to their house and play it for them in my car whenthe songs were just developing, you know the rough mixes. Once it was done, he said, “can you imagine what it's gonna be like when you've done with your 10 th album?” I'm like man, I'm barely done with this thing and you're talking about 10 albums. So that's always been in my head. I'm on number 6 right now.
RJ: Alright so you got plenty of time.
GD: I feel like it, but at the same it's taking a long time for me to get writing lyrics again, it's been amazing. I feel it's gotten me back into understanding why I play guitar. Or why I've perpetuated my artistry because my ultimate goal is to keep writing songs. That's the well that has never dried up. Or Ishould say to write music and then bringing the lyrics into the music. This process of writing lyrics began in January for these songs, “Ain't No Devil but The Human”. I wrote that song last year or the year before, something like that, and the song, “All the Girls You Know”, the instrumental version. Those are the things that I am writing for the project that I'm working on right now. I'm trying to finish the whole project, but the daunting task is to get my head together to start writing lyrics for them. So, cracking the ice on Ain’t No Devil but The Human, was a big deal for me.
RJ: So, you already have the music you just need to write the lyrics. Kind of figure out what the songs are about?
GD: Yea, they all identify themselves in the practice. So, all the songs that I'm doing now, it's so interesting. because the titles have come to me in words of 3. “Ain't No Devil” and then “But the Human”, and “Leave Somebody Alone”, also, “All the Girls”. I have all the titles for the songs, and I sawthat’s crazy that they're all 3’s.
RJ: Interesting.GD: Yea, I started waking up at 4:00 in the morning in January to write for two hours before I go to work out. I'm working on this software, MasterWriter. It's songwriting or book writing, whatever. And these things have just opened up. It’s amazing, the song that my mother sang, called My Only Son. It's incredibly beautiful. Everything is just beautiful. I am so glad, I think the gift that's been given, even though it's kind of frustrating as a guitarist, I feel like yeah, I can play with all kinds of people you know. Somebody suggested that you know it's so hard for you to breakthrough in the music industry. So why don't you just go work with some other artists? You know, try to be a studio guy or a side guy? But I know it’s not in me. I would like to at some point, but only on the merits of the work that I've done on myself. Meaning, someone would tell me that they really liked what I do, and they love my guitar playing and want to work with me based on that. Or that we should work together. That would be cool.
RJ: Yea, that's really honoring the integrity of your work.
G: I take it seriously. The thing that’s happening in this phase, is that writing has really brought me back to why I have struggled to continue or why I now feel good about continuing. I feel content in the pursuit now. When I hear these songs, when I am developing the phrases, the lines and all these things, I’m like oh my God, this is the best thing in the world.
RJ: That's beautiful. So, opening up to songwriting, cracking that code as you called it, has created a kind of renaissance for you, a new stage in your work as an artist. And you're in the studio now. Tell me about that.
GD: Well, as far a when the project began. It was in June of 2021. It was in the first throws of the pandemic. The first throws of grief. My son had died almost 6 months before, at the end of 2020. So, I’m trying to reminisce. When he passed that month, I’m pretty listless. I did a lot of walking during that time, so I decided I was going to buy a new guitar, another Stratocaster. I just wanted something new. Then I decided I wanted another electric guitar because I'd always wanted that specific electric guitar. It was different, I got a Telecaster, and the thing is I bought both of these used. The Telecaster was from this guy who couldn't afford it. He had a family. I told him I was happy to take it on and I basically told him my story you know because that’s just what I do. We were in such a good conversation. I told him my son had passed a month ago and I'm just looking for something that I can create with because I think a lot of creation is going to be happening. Or I hoped. So, I got those guitars, and I named the white Telecaster, Zangel, (Zach/ Angel) after my son Zach who had died. I had named the other one, G-Soul.And Zangel spoke to me. It just had this sound, and it was so easy for me to play, it just fit my hands so beautifully. It had all this brightness, this bite too, warmth. I mean it had all these dimensions. I never had a guitar quite like that. I put a sticker on it that Zach had given me of the band Phish. That was his favorite band. It was perfect. I had been recording a lot of music on Voice Memo and sometimes I would kind of skat sing, you know skat sing a melody, what it might be. There were certain songs I thought, maybe I could actually bring to the studio with Michael Rosen who's in in Oakland. He had mixed my House Full of Friends album, the live album from 2016, and he and I did another project together, a voiceover. Somebody hired me to use my voice, that was great. He is really just a great engineer and I’m very at home with him. So, I called him up for this project. But I also thought, I've been playing with the same people for a while now and it's time for a change. It’s all about change right now. So, I recruited this drummer Bryant Mills that I've always wanted to play with. I just never had the chance because he's a very busy drummer doing covers.
RJ: A little curious, what did you like about the drummer?
GD: My bass player said you know one of my favorite drummers is Bryant Mills, you need to meet him. I had tried to book him like a bunch of years before, and it just didn't work out. I had forgot about him but then I saw him at this jazz club that I've been playing at for a couple of years. I thought, man he's doing jazz. This is cool. We met for the first time in in flesh and he was so welcoming. So that’s why it came to mind, and it finally worked out. The first session we had together we did 9 songs. First, we did 6 songsand then we came back and did 3 more. All originals. He was so intuitive. He didn't look like he was playing hard at all. He was hitting all these breaks and changes. Shortly after that recording session, Michael Rosen, the engineer told me over the phone that he had a problem, he said he had lost all of my files due to a corrupt hard drive. He offered to do it again free of charge, which was actually the best thing that happened because now Bryant knew the songs better. He was already super intuitive now we could actually kind of go all in. It was a blessing in disguise. I never doubted that we could do it again
