DENVER, COLO. (2/28/08) -- On Friday, March 21 at 8 p.m., two masterful
guitarists/songwriters will take the Swallow Hill stage: John Davis and Jack
Williams.
John Davis began learning guitar at the age of 12 from
South Georgia bluesman Enman Cobb. Throughout his early days in music, he joined
up with several groups in his college days in South Georgia. Eventually he
landed some interesting stints, from being a craps and 21 dealer in Reno to
being an Elvis impersonator in L.A. From there he went on to Phoenix to play
lead guitar for the Paul Morris Band for a couple of years before going back to
Georgia to teach Shakespeare, laying his guitar to rest momentarily, for a
decade.
When Davis picked his guitar back up, he made himself into a
singer/songwriter with a plethora of accolades: 2005 South Florida Folk Festival
New Folk winner, 2004 Kerrville New Folk winner, finalist for the Wildflower
Songwriting Competition in 2003, and winner of the 2002 Swallow Hill Songwriting
Competition. His debut album, Dreams of the Lost Tribe (partially
recorded at Swallow Hill's Sawtelle Studio), received much critical acclaim and
was one of only nine albums to earn a perfect-10 rating from Folkwax reviewers.
One of the album cuts, "Okefenokee," was runner-up for the Best Roots Song of
2004 at the Just Plain Folks music awards ceremony in L.A. His new album,
Revelation Land, is continuing the buzz.
Davis will be sharing the bill with guitarist, singer/songwriter
and storyteller, Jack Williams, who also has a colorful career. In 1959
he played trumpet in a jazz quartet in a beatnik coffeehouse in Seattle, reading
poetry to the audience during breaks. He learned banjo and mandolin to spice up
folk groups in the 1960s in Georgia. He played pedal-steel guitar in a
country-rock band, and classical guitar/lute in a Renaissance ensemble. His
skill with instrumental composition won him a national arts grant in 1967, which
has led to his later arrangements for other artists' recordings, including some
for Ronny Cox. As a guitarist, Jack has accompanied Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow,
Mickey Newbury, John Lee Hooker, Harry Nilsson and Big Joe Turner, to name but a
few. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary says that Jack is "The best guitar
player I’ve ever heard."
