Clarence "Bluesman' Davis

 

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Clarence Otis Davis was born on February, 17, 1945 in the backwoods of Laurel Cut, there in Eutaw,        Greene, County Alabama. His Father's name is Willie Davis and his Mother's name is Gertrude Davis. At about the age of 7 years old Clarence became interested in music. He had an Uncle named James Davis who lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama who had bought his son a guitar. His cousin lost interest in the guitar, so Clarence asked his uncle if could he use his cousin's guitar. His uncle agreed to let Clarence use the guitar. While his Mother and Father worked in the cotton field, Clarence about the age of 8 or 9 years old use to listen to a blues station out of Carrollton, Alabama. The sound of those blues off of that radio just stuck in his mind. Clarence always wanted to play music. Clarence comes from a large family of 9 boys and 3 girls. Every evening after the field work, he would get his guitar and sit on the porch and play. His dad would get on him about playing on the porch because it was disturbing him after a long day in the  cotton fields. He said it was too noisy. By the age of 12 years old he learned to play guitar by ear. He would play until his fingers got sore and he could not work in the cotton fields. That really upset his dad. There was a man by the name of Willie P. Richardson who taught Clarence how to tune his guitar and play When the Saints Come Marching in, one of his first songs learned on the guitar. Clarence's favorite style of playing was the Jimmy Reed style. So after Clarence learned the guitar, his first songs by Jimmy Reed were "Honky Tonk" and "Oh Baby You Don't Have To Go." After Clarence learned those 3 songs he showed his family how he could play.

His whole family would sing "If I Could hear My Mother Pray Again", a gospel song. After he learned those 4 songs, he was on his way. Clarence and his family also lived on a plantation farm called Gosa Quarter. On his first CD he wrote a song about how hard it was on that Gosa farm. At the age of 15 years old, Clarence would play at fish fry parties, playing the blues by himself. His first band was Little Wit and the Upsetters. He moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama about the age of 18 or 19 and played with Danny Green & the Red Lighters. He also played with the Soul Merchant Band. Clarence moved to Cleveland, Ohio in the 60's. He use to practice with the Ohio Players before they became famous with the song called "Fire". He also set in with a top band in Tuscaloosa, Alabama called The Dominos, TJ & The Diplomats whose manager at that time was Theodore Pools. Clarence started the Black Belt Roots Blues Festival. That Festival has been running for 33 years. Now Clarence and a Lady named Carol Zippert still run that blues Festival every year. Clarence has been on the same bill as T-Model Ford, Sam Lay, Bobby Rush, Willie King, Opened for Steve Perry, Honey Boy Edwards, Hubert Sumlin at the West Point Howlin Festival in Mississippi, Wilson Meadows, McKinley Mitchell, Kenny Neal,  Cedric Burnside & Lightening Malcolm and many more. Clarence, Willie King, and "Birmingham" George Conner played together in a night club called The Blue Room, owned by "Birmingham" George Conner. Clarence is currently working on a new CD. He writes and arranges his own songs.!

Clarence Davis & Jock Webb on the farm