“I love what I got to do, when I did Blues Blast (her current CD). It was really fun for me, playing with other people and making music with folks,” said the sensational blues guitarist and singer Debbie Davies, as she spoke to me earlier this fall, from Omaha, Nebraska, where she was preparing for a concert later in the week.
Davies who cut her teeth in blues music, while playing with such legendary artists as Albert Collins, as well as Maggie and John Mayall, has reached a sweet spot in her life, where she seems very grateful for the people who have helped her to develop as an artist, she is happy about her life, and fans of blues music have embraced her as one of the finest electric guitarists to stroll down blues avenue. She is always in demand in Europe, and at home in America, people are always eager to applaud her scintillating guitar riffs.
Davies’ friend and former Female Blues Artist of the Year, Janiva Magness, a prolific performer in her own right, had this to say about Davies, when I contacted her, “Hands down, Debbie Davies is one of the best living blues guitar players. She brings a wealth of knowledge and deep experience to her playing, which goes largely unmatched in today’s market. She is simply great!”
Blues Blast a CD which received high marks in this publication reunited Davies with her old friend, guitarist Coco Montoya, as well as, outstanding blues artist Tab Benoit, Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica / vocals), drummer Per Hanson, Rod Carey (bass) and Bruce Katz on the B3 organ. The star-studded cast of musicians did not disappoint us, and created a fabulous recording, particularly on the ten-minute musical odyssey, “Sonoma Sunset.”
Returning to our conversation about Blues Blast, Davies says, “What we wanted to do was imply that it was like a blues party in the studio, so everything is very live. If we didn’t like what (we recorded), we went back in and cut another solo over (those) sections. That is why the writing is credited to everybody, because we wrote it (the music) right there in the studio.”
With our conversation focusing momentarily on the song “Sonoma Sunset,” Davies describes the other three headliners who made this song happen, Montoya, Benoit and Musselwhite, “ Tab is one of the most low down, greasy players that you are ever going to meet (for the blues neophyte that is a huge compliment). It is just so real, what comes out, and he never wants to overdub anything. Anything that is lowdown and slow like that, he is just going to grab. He will shine in it.”
“Coco (in “Sonoma Sunset”) started really gently and slowly, building up to an intense lick. It was so fast, that everybody’s head was back, and their eyes were blinking. It was, ‘What was that?’ I call it a swirl. There is so much joy in playing with these musicians.”
Turning her attention to Musselwhite, Davies says, “I felt that everything that Charlie Musselwhite did on the CD was deep and soulful. You are talking about a guy who came in, played through a rented amp, and had his tone right away. That is the sign of an old pro. The tone is in him. It is coming from him, and is not dependent upon his gear. He put it through a twin reverb, which is what he requested. It is just like chills, when I hear what he does.”
