Twelve Gates Into the City

Rev. Gary Davis is the real thing. The authentic blind-seer. He is a genius with a brightly burning spirit enormous musical intelligence technical brilliance an encyclopedic memory driving passion deep faith araunchy and gracious sense of humor. A mystic. He is an icon of the style of Guitar he was born into known today as the Piedmont blues. Through players of the first half of the twentieth century like Alfred Shultz MoseRanger Merle Travis and Chet Atkins this is the signature American fingerpicking style that would so deeply inform the country folk blues and even rock and roll of our day.Rev. Davis (1896-1972) was bornblack in deep poverty in South Carolina blind from an early age. He overcame these longest of odds to become world famous a giant of American music. He brought together black and white styles country gospel folk themes blues jazz ragtime minstrel songs dance tunes and popular song. He developed his own brilliant fingerpicking style that was deep economical and adaptable enough to easily cover all these genres. Supporting all hiscreativity was an unshakable faith that pulled him through the obscurity the bitter hard times and crushing poverty he would endure until the folk music awakening of the fifties and sixties caught up to him.In this bookand accompanying audio Ernie Hawkins has transcribed 18 of Rev. Davis' best known gospel arrangements. The playing of Rev. Davis has influenced generations of Guitar players from Blind Boy Fuller to Dave VanRonk David Bromberg Ry Cooder Jorma Kaukonen Bob Weir Stefan Grossman and Woody Mann. His tunes have been recorded by a host of today's finest rock musicians: The Grateful Dead Hot Tuna Bob Dylan Jackson Browne and others.