Guy Davis is a blues musician, actor, director, writer, and son of actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Davis sings like a classic bluesman and plays harmonica, 4-string and 5-string banjos, and 6-string and 12-string guitars. According to the album's liner notes, Skunkmello is named for a famous chicken thief who apparently founded the "Lazy Liars and Loafers Club" and was hanged around 1900. Davis includes other informative and often amusing tidbits with the lyrics of each song.
The deep bellow and trill of Guy's voice is best heard on the upbeat "Natural Born Eas' Man", the euphemistic "The Chocolate Man", and in the bluesy twang of "Po' Boy, Great Long Ways From Home" and "Blackberry Ramble".
My favourite tracks on the disc are "Going Down Slow", "It Takes Love To Make A Home", "Fonza Curry", and "Shooting Star". Davis grinds the blues on each of the songs in a way that you rarely hear these days.
The plucky "Shaky Pudding" features Guy's clawhammer banjo picking and plays on the different connotations that the word "pudding" has on each side of the Atlantic. And you just have to hear "Skunkmello's Dance Of The Chickens" to truly experience the fun.
The unusual blues-rap "Uncle Tom Is Dead (Milk 'N' Cookies Remix)" extols the virtues of blues music while addressing hip-hop controversy and social issues. Guy notes that the lyrics of the song - originally featured on his 2004 release Legacy - were altered because the original version didn't get any radio play. I doubt the new censored version got much more air time than its source. This is the main reason that I think blogs and the internet are so important for music, because there are so many truly great artists in every genre that are being tragically neglected by traditional music outlets like radio.
You can hear more from the album at NPR.
Guy Davis Official Site
Buy the CD or Mp3s
The deep bellow and trill of Guy's voice is best heard on the upbeat "Natural Born Eas' Man", the euphemistic "The Chocolate Man", and in the bluesy twang of "Po' Boy, Great Long Ways From Home" and "Blackberry Ramble".
My favourite tracks on the disc are "Going Down Slow", "It Takes Love To Make A Home", "Fonza Curry", and "Shooting Star". Davis grinds the blues on each of the songs in a way that you rarely hear these days.
The plucky "Shaky Pudding" features Guy's clawhammer banjo picking and plays on the different connotations that the word "pudding" has on each side of the Atlantic. And you just have to hear "Skunkmello's Dance Of The Chickens" to truly experience the fun.
The unusual blues-rap "Uncle Tom Is Dead (Milk 'N' Cookies Remix)" extols the virtues of blues music while addressing hip-hop controversy and social issues. Guy notes that the lyrics of the song - originally featured on his 2004 release Legacy - were altered because the original version didn't get any radio play. I doubt the new censored version got much more air time than its source. This is the main reason that I think blogs and the internet are so important for music, because there are so many truly great artists in every genre that are being tragically neglected by traditional music outlets like radio.
You can hear more from the album at NPR.
Guy Davis Official Site
Buy the CD or Mp3s
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