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Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, then converted to Christianity and became a minister. After moving to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy".Davis' fingerpicking guitar style influenced many other artists. His students included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Steve Katz, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Alex Shoumatoff, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Ernie Hawkins, Larry Campbell, Bob Weir, Woody Mann, and Tom Winslow. He also influenced Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen, Keb' Mo', Ollabelle, Resurrection Band, and John Sebastian (of the Lovin' Spoonful).
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Albums by Rev. Gary DavisSort:By AlbumA - Z
Avant Garde Recordings: Recorded Live Ocrober 1966 [2018]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | |
She’S Funny That Way |
All-Time Greatest Hits [2017]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Burn | 4:40 |
The Vintage Collection: Blues [2015]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson And Delilah | 4:06 |
Century of the Blues [2014]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:11 |
Classic African American Songsters From Smithsonian Folkways [2014]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:35 |
The Blues & Salvation [2014]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 4:00 |
Let Us Get Together | 2:28 |
An Afternoon With Reverend Gary Davis At Allegheny College, Meadville, P.A. 1964 [2013]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candyman | 2:42 |
Grateful Dead's Jukebox [2012]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:44 |
Make It Your Sound, Make It Your Scene: Vanguard Records & the 1960s Musical Revolution [2012]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:39 |
Bob Dylan Cover To Cover: The Originals, Vol. 2 [2011]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:45 |
Bob Dylan Radio Radio: Theme Time Radio, Vol. 5 [2011]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson & Delilah | 4:04 |
Bob Dylan's Greenwich Village: Sounds from the Scene in 1961 [2011]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:43 |
Ragtime Guitar/Children Of Zion [2011]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates To The City |
Robert Plant's Jukebox [2011]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates To the City | 3:10 |
At Home and Church: 1962-1967 [2010]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Hesitation Blues | 4:09 |
Candyman (On 5 String Banjo) | 1:27 |
Candyman | 4:28 |
Classic Appalachian Blues from Smithsonian Folkways [2010]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Hesitation Blues | 3:19 |
Nick Drake's Jukebox [2010]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:05 |
Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan [2010]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | 2:22 |
Live at Gerdes Folk City 1962 [2009]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 5:18 |
Candyman | 3:14 |
Samson And Delilah | 3:58 |
The Roots of Gram Parsons [2009]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candyman | 3:06 |
Town and Country Blues [2009]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:46 |
The Video Collection [2008]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City [DVD][Instrumental] | |
Samson and Delilah [DVD] |
A First-Time Buyer's Guide to American Negro Spirituals [2007]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:10 |
Power Blues [2006] [2006]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates To The City | 3:09 |
Rev. Gary Davis and the Guitar Evangelists, Vol. 2 [2006]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:08 |
From Spirituals to Gospel [2005]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:09 |
Prestige Profiles, Vol. 8 [2005]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:04 |
Samson & Delilah [*] | 4:06 |
Beginner's Guide to American Roots [2004]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | 2:41 |
Meet You at the Station [2004]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates To The City | 3:07 |
Blues Story [Shout! Factory] [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson & Delilah | 4:51 |
Century of the Blues: The Definitve Country Blues Collection [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:11 |
Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:35 |
Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Hesitation Blues | 3:15 |
Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Gary Davis [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson & Delilah | 4:05 |
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:44 |
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:12 |
Candy Man | 2:33 |
Cocaine Blues | 2:40 |
If I Had My Way: Early Home Recordings [2003]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:55 |
Beyond Mississippi: The Blues That Left Town [2002]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:06 |
Gospel, Vol. 1: 1926-1942 [2002]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:08 |
Vanguard: Roots of Folk [2002]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:40 |
Demons and Angels: The Ultimate Collection [2001]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 4:30 |
Let Us Get Together | 2:53 |
Cocaine Blues | 3:28 |
I Need You [2001]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Soon (Graham Stack Radio Edit) |
Live at Newport [2001]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson & Delilah (If I Had My Way) | 3:36 |
Samson and Delilah | 3:36 |
Samson and Delilah (If I Had My Way) | |
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:06 |
Twelve Gates To the City | 4:34 |
Newport Folk Festival: Best of the Blues 1959-1968 [2001]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:36 |
Live at Cambridge 1971 [2000]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Let Us Get Together | 16:20 |
Samson and Delilah | 5:13 |
Negro Spirituals & Gospel Songs, Vol. 1 [2000]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:09 |
The Masters of Gospel [2000]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:07 |
Blues Jams [Groove Jams] [1999]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Let Us Get Together | 4:23 |
I Am the True Vine [1999]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:09 |
Generations of Blues, Vol. 3: Guitar Greats [1998]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:39 |
Portrait of Gospel [1998]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:07 |
I Am a True Vine [1997]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | 2:44 |
Candy Man | 3:43 |
Legendary Blues Singers [1997]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:30 |
Live & Kicking [1997]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:48 |
Twelve Gates to the City | 6:25 |
Live & Kicking [Live] [1997]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:40 |
Vanguard Collector's Edition [1997]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:30 |
O, Glory: The Apostolic Studio Sessions [1996]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Let Us Get Together | 3:51 |
Riverside Folklore Series, Vol. 2: Singing the American Roots [1996]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:52 |
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:22 |
The Bluesville Years, Vol. 6: Blues Sweet Carolina Blues [1996]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:51 |
Gospel at Newport 1959/63-66 [1995]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:41 |
Greatest Gospels [1995]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates To the City | 3:09 |
Roots & Branches, Vol. 3 [1995]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Let Us Get Together | 3:08 |
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:08 |
The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead [1995]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:03 |
Complete Early Recordings [1994]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:11 |
Rev. Blind Gary Davis: 1935-1949 [1994]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:09 |
Vintage Recordings (1935-1949) [1994]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:07 |
Blues & Ragtime [1993]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
She's Funny That Way | 7:01 |
Hesitation Blues | 11:52 |
Cocaine Blues | 2:24 |
Candy Man | 2:57 |
Blues at Newport [1991]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 3:36 |
Good Morning Blues [Biograph] [1990]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 1:50 |
Hesitation Blues | 4:54 |
Good Morning Blues [Collectables] [1990]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 1:51 |
Hesitation Blues | 4:55 |
Reverend Gary Davis [1989]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 4:30 |
Reverend Gary Davis Live [1989]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 4:30 |
The Great Bluesmen at Newport '59 [1976]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:04 |
At the Sign of the Sun [1973]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | |
Death Don't Have No Mercy |
When I Die I'll Live Again [1972]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Death Don't Have No Mercy | |
Twelve Gates to the City | |
Samson and Delilah |
From Blues to Gospel [1971]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | 3:06 |
Samson and Delilah | 4:51 |
Lord I Wish I Could See [1971]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | |
Candy Man |
New Blues & Gospel [1971]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:48 |
Cocaine Blues (Davis) | 3:03 |
Hesitation Blues |
The Guitar & Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis [1964]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:54 |
Harlem Street Singer [1960]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:05 |
Let Us Get Together | 3:08 |
Death Don't Have No Mercy | 4:45 |
Twelve Gates To the City | 3:13 |
Legendary Rev. Gary Davis, Vol. 1 [1960]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Samson and Delilah | 4:48 |
Hesitation Blues | 4:53 |
Pure Religion & Bad Company [1957]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:32 |
Cocaine Blues | 2:38 |
Hesitation Blues | 3:17 |
American Street Songs [1956]
Song | Duration |
---|---|
I Wanna Get Back With You | |
Breakdown | |
Burn | |
Soon | |
Good Time | |
Poison Well | |
I'm Not Driving Anymore | |
Satellite | |
Mother | |
Take Me Away from Here | |
Falling for Me | |
Hang On | |
For the Love of Money |
Gospel, Blues And Street Songs
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Twelve Gates to the City | 3:24 |
Samson and Delilah | 3:53 |
Manchester Free Trade Hall 1964
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Coon Hunt [Live][Instrumental] | 3:19 |
Pure Religion
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Let Us Get Together | |
Samson and Delilah | |
Twelve Gates to the City | |
Death Don't Have No Mercy | |
Candy Man | |
Cocaine Blues | |
Hesitation Blues |
The Beatles: Day by Day -- The Originals
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Cocaine Blues | 2:40 |
The Sun of Our Life (Solos, Songs, a Sermon 1955-1957)
Song | Duration |
---|---|
Candy Man | 2:33 |
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