Boo Boo Davis doesn’t need too much introduction. He belongs to the last generation of musicians that write and play the blues, based on the first-hand experience of a hard life, in the Mississippi Delta. Blues don’t come any more real than this. He was born and raised in Drew, Mississippi in the heart of Delta.
It was the richest cotton land in the South and the large amounts of field workers attracted the best musicians from the surrounding areas. The entire Delta region was rich with blues, but the town of Drew was a particularly fertile one. Charley Patton stayed near Drew for many years and several legendary performers spent time there.
Sharecroppers sang loudly to help pass the gruelling hours of work and without a doubt, Boo Boo developed his loud, bellowing voice based on the singing he heard in the fields as a young boy. In fact, that voice, through the years has demolished many amps and speaker cabinets.
Boo Boo’s father, Sylvester Davis farmed cotton and played several instruments. Musicians who he played with include John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Robert Pete Williams. Boo Boo remembers these and other musicians dropping by and rehearsing at their house. At the age of five Boo Boo was playing the harmonica and singing in church with his mother.
By thirteen he was playing guitar, and by eighteen he was out playing with his father and older brothers under the name of The Lard Can Band. This band travelled all throughout the Delta. In the early sixties, he went north to St Louis and was around during the heyday of the St Louis music scene (Albert King, Ike Turner, Chuck Berry and many others). Together with his brothers, they were the weekend house band in Tubby’s Red Room in East St Louis for eighteen years.
Following his guiding spirit (that he calls Dave) Boo Boo has found a way to deal with modern society. The blues helps him to keep his spirit high and survive day-to-day life. It deals with all the basic raw elements of life; good and bad, plain and simple.
His first European tour took place in April 2000 and since then Boo Boo is touring Europe at least twice a year. So far Boo Boo has released 5 CD’s on Black and Tan Records and all of them were very well received. Number 4 (Drew, Mississippi) was listed with the 10 best blues records of 2006 by MOJO Magazine (UK). In 2007 Boo Boo was invited to perform on the Pocono Blues Festival, one of the biggest blues festivals in the USA and in March 2007, Boo Boo performed live on CBC Radio One, national radio in Canada.
On the Spring Tour of 2008, they decided to leave out the bass and tour as a trio: Boo Boo Davis on vocals & harmonica, John Gerritse on drums and Jan Mittendorp on guitar. This trio has been touring Europe extensively; the last few years they did over four hundred shows in twenty-three different countries including a lot of the big blues & jazz festivals (Montreux, Peer, North Sea Jazz Festival, Juan Les Pins, Amal, Cazorla Blues Festival, Olsztyn).
Tour Dates
March 20th, Baars (NL), Speelplaats
March 21st, Recklinghausen (D), Altstadtschmiede
March 22nd, Hilversum (NL), The Skiff
March 25th, Eindhoven (NL), ‘t Rozenknopje
March 26th, Bergen (NL), Taverne
March 28th, Luneray (F), Potatoes Blues Festival
March 30th, Weinheim (D), Muddy’s Club
March 31st, Frankfurt (D), Das Bett
April 1st, Aachen (D), Musikbunker
April 2nd, Apeldoorn (NL), Blues Cafe
April 3rd, Schaffhausen (CH), Fasskeller
April 4th, Olten (CH), Galicia
April 6th, Salzburg (A), Rockhouse
April 8th, Karditsa (GR), Blues Bar
April 9th, Ioannina (GR), Route 66
April 10th, Volos (GR(, Cafe Santan
April 11th, Thessaloniki (GR), Mylos Club
April 12th, Serres (GR), Aigli
For more info – Boo Boo Davis
