James Davis grew up on a farm in Perry, Georgia, located in rural Houston County, near Macon. He began playing guitar as a child. His sister is the great gospel singer–and fellow Music Maker Foundation recipient–Essie Mae Brooks. Born in 1931, Davis played for thirty years every Saturday night at The Turning Point, a club in Warner Robins, Georgia. Georgia Drumbeat, epitomizes hypnotic trance blues. No other collection exists where 13 compositions are threaded into one long song like this James Davis recording.
These spooky recordings exists with Davis playing electric guitar accompanied only by Gilbert Henderson on drums, which Davis called “Drumbeat”. Georgia Drumbeat contains a primal element in the droning beats and rhythmic guitar phrases in songs that contain no lyrics. The music resembles the sound of fife and drum music heard in Mississippi and Georgia a century ago.
This album casts a certain mood…an eerie sound…images of dirt crossroads…last fair deals…black cat bones…fever dreams…and poison whiskey. Georgia Drumbeat marks another vital release from the distinguished Music Maker Foundation vault. James Davis’ music goes down like a shot of clear mountain moonshine at midnight.
James Davis passed away in 2007.
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