REV GARY DAVIS  AT HOME AND CHURCH
Recorded: 1962-1967
Released: 2010
Label: Guitar Workshop (SGGW 130)
Format: [email protected] 
Time: 214:00 min.(3 CD’s)



A powerfully driven tour de force from one of the greatest acoustic folk-blues guitarists to have ever lived and left behind a legacy.

“In 1962 I started to take guitar lessons from Rev. Gary Davis. 
Each weekend and school holiday I would take two trains from my home in Brooklyn up to Park Avenue in the Bronx. Rev. Davis’s home was hidden behind a worn out tenement building, down a flight of stairs where the garbage cans were kept and then up another small flight of stairs to a single dwelling that was surrounded on all four sides by apartment buildings.

To say it was 'different' would be to understate the effect it had on me. But once the screen door was opened and the scent of White Owl cigars hit my nose I knew I was at home. The warmth, generosity and education that I found in this 'country shack' in the midst of the great New York City has lasted me a lifetime.

This set of three CDs captures Rev. Davis at home and church - teaching, talking and philosophizing. The first two CDs are material recorded at his Bronx home. Religious songs, folk tunes, blues, rags and memories are included. The music ranges from the heavenly to the bawdy. The third CD features a service I recorded where Rev. Davis plays and delivers sermons. ~ Stefan Grossman”


Disc 1(At Home)
01. Twelve Sticks (3:47)
02. Sally, Where'd You Get Your Liquor From (1:52)
03. Babylon Is Falling (6:36)
04. What Could I Do (3:23)
05. Children of Zion (7:05)
06. Hesitation Blues (4:05)
07. Candyman (1:23) [On 5 string banjo]
08. Steal Away And Pray (5:36)
09. Goin' To Chattanooga (5:02)
10. Packing Up, Get Ready To Go (3:37)
11. Untitled (0:39)
12. You Cry Because I'm Leaving (4:16)
13. Don't Let My Baby Catch You Here (5:14)
14. Lord Let Me Live Longer (2:21)
15. I Want To Be Saved (2:47)
16. Waltz Time Candyman (3:17)
17. Little Boy Who Made Your Britches (4:38 )
18. Talks about Verses Not Sung (2:21)
19. C Rag (5:41)
20. Two Step Candyman (2:51)

[isc 2(At Home)
01. Piece Without Words (3:51)
02. Lord Search My Heart (4:05)
03. Slippin' To My Gal Comes In Partner (2:56)
04. Sun is Going Down (2:44)
05. Raise A Ruckus Tonight (2:14)
06. Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockefeller Put the Panic On (5:59)
07. Soon My Work Will All Be Done (3:57)
08. You're Gonna Need King Jesus (2:44)
09. I'm Going Back To Jesus (2:02)
10. Blues in C (5:12)
11. Saddle It Around (3:00)
12. People Who Use To See (4:52)
13. Italian Rag (3:16)
14. Candyman (4:24)
15. Nobody Don't Care For Me (3:12)
16. Fox Chase (4:51)
17. Talk on Blind Boy Fuller (9:39)

Disc 3 (At Church)
01. Amazing Grace (3:26)
02. Sermon (3:11)
03. I'm a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord (5:19)
04. Sermon (2:40)
05. Lord, I Feel Just Like Goin' On (5:01)
06. Steal Away (6:30)
07. Can't Make This Journey By Myself (2:47)
08. Sermon (17:56)
09. I Will Overcome Someday (5:15)
10. God Be With You (1:15)[From the Mariposa Jazz Festival]
11. I Got Religion I'm So Glad (7:56)
12. I'm a Soldier In The Army Of The Lord (4:24)