Gospel Davis

This album is one of the cornerstones of Riverside Records' "Original Blues Classics" series. Regardless of the moniker, these sides loom large in the available works of seminal blues icons Pink Anderson and Rev. Gary Davis. Both performers hail from the largely underappreciated Piedmont blues scene - which first began to flourish in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - near the North/South Carolina state border. Anderson's seven tracks were recorded in Charlottesville, VA, on May 29, 1950 - while he was literally on the road. His highly sophisticated and self-accompanied style of simultaneously picking and sliding - accomplished using a half-opened jackknife - could pass for an electronic effect…

Reverend Davis was one of the most gifted and original musicians of his generation. His music represents some of the most sophisticated sounds in the world of fingerstyle guitar. Since his death in 1972, Davis's influence has continued to grow as each new generation of guitarists discovers the excitement of his music.As a teenager, Woody Man studied privately with the master. In this program he teaches six of the Reverend's ragtime and gospel originals note-for-note, just as Davis taught him; detailing and explaining the picking techniques, chord positions, and fine points of phrasing.

Spirituals, guitar evangelists, "shout" bands, quartets, and choirs sing out the sacred sounds of African American gospel music. This Smithsonian Folkways "Classic" spans over a half century of select recordings to paint a broad panorama of this cherished American musical creation. Reverend Gary Davis, Sister Ernestine Washington, Sonny Terry, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Elizabeth Cotten are among those featured on these 24 tracks of soulful song.