Back-to-back Grammy nominee Guy Davis brings his exceptional traditional blues, roots and world music to the Me&Thee stage on Friday, April 4th at 8pm. Davis is more than a musician. He’s also know as an actor, author, and songwriter who uses a blend of roots, blues, folk, rock, rap, spoken word, and world music to sing about, comment on, and address the issues of social injustice, historical events and common life struggles.

Concert starts at 8:00 pm

Guy plays six- and twelve-string guitars, the five-string banjo, harmonica, and didgeridoo and has performed before the crowned heads of Denmark, and even the renowned explorer Jacques Cousteau. He’s played alongside Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Levon Helm, Dr. John, Kris Kristofferson, Buffy Saint-Marie, T-Bone Burnett, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, John Hammond, John Sebastian, and John Denver. Davis has opened for, among others, Chuck Berry, Joan Armatrading, James Cotton, and B.B.King. He has performed in 48 of the 50 states, throughout most of Europe, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada, Greenland, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, and the UK.

He’s been chased out of Red Square in Moscow for trying to sing. He’s sung in Soviet Occupied East Berlin, and performed standing in front of an iceberg in Greenland.

His background in theater is pronounced through the lyrical storytelling of songs “God’s Gonna Make Things Over” about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, “Welcome to My World,” and “Got Your Letter In My Pocket.” His deep storytelling is a contrast to modern-day commercial music, underlined by gentle tones from his guitar or banjo fingerpicking.

A self-taught “Renaissance Man”, he first heard the banjo at a summer camp run by John Seeger, the brother of Pete Seeger, and soon after, asked his father for one. He’s been playing ever since.

Along with his music writing and performance, Guy has written several scripts for stage and film. He recently debuted his latest piece, “Sugarbelly and Other Tales My Father Told Me” at the famed Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ. He previously presented his other New York Foundation for the Arts winning play at the Crossroads, “The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with the Blues”, a one-man show whose Off-Broadway debut in 1994 received critical praise from The New York Times and the Village Voice.

Also at the Crossroads, Guy appeared with his parents, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, in a show called “Two Hah-Hahs & a Homeboy.” Guy also starred in the Off-Broadway production of “Robert Johnson; Trick The Devil” at the New Federal Theater which earned him a “Keeping The Blues Alive” Award from The Blues Foundation. On Broadway, Guy was in the cast of the Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes play, “Mulebone,” which featured the music of Taj Mahal.

In a revival of “Finian’s Rainbow,” Guy undertook the role that was originated by one of his musical heroes, Sonny Terry, who created the role in the original 1947 production. Davis co-wrote, arranged and performed the music for “To Be a Man,” an Emmy Award-winning film. Guy’s music was also used in the national PBS series, “The American Promise” and was used for the PBS “The Story Hour” as its theme song.

Guy also portrayed Dr. Josh Hall for one season on the daytime soap, “One Life to Live” and appeared in and co-wrote with Dr. John for the Nickelodeon show “Whoopi Goldberg’s Littleberg.” He was a guest on the Conan O’Brien Show with his all-star band. On the big screen, Guy starred opposite Rae Dawn Chong in the seminal breakdancing film, Beat Street, produced by Harry Belafonte. Guy performed 400 consecutive online half hour “Coffee with Kokomo” shows during the pandemic.

Guy has developed an education program spotlighting the Blues For Young Listeners called “Routes of the Blues,” and has been on the artist rosters of The Lincoln Center Institute in NYC, Young Audiences of NJ, the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ, and The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Photo: Joseph A Rosen