Concert - Archives

September 2004

Saturday Sep. 25, 2004

The years following the breakup of The Rankin Family have held personal challenges for Raylene Rankin. She faced the loss of her mother, her brother, John Morris, and battled breast cancer. Rankin says the difficulties she faced made her even more determined to release her album. She says, "It was like looking at the rubble of your life, and picking what was important from that rubble. It was deciding to move on with a new journey, and just leaving the other things behind."

Saturday Sep. 18, 2004

For 33 years Morgan Davis has played the blues in Canada from Victoria, B.C. to St. John's, Newfoundland, as well as Europe and the U.S. Morgan writes the songs, drives the truck, sets up the gear and performs traditional and original Blues. His venues range from 30 seat coffee houses in the B.C. interior and Annapolis Valley to huge folk and blues festivals, performing for crowds of thousands. Playing with a band for the first 25 years of his career, recent years have seen Davis make a successful transition to performing as a solo artist.
Originally from Detroit, Davis came to Canada from California in 1968. While living in Rochdale College, Toronto's then-Mecca for the subculture of the late 1960's; he began his career in the hallways playing the songs of Robert Johnson.
In the 1970's, Davis hit the road with the Rhythm Rockets; Knights of the Mystic Sea and the first David Wilcox Band, eventually forming his own trio. During his years on the road, Morgan perfected his repertoire of Blues classics, songs that figure prominently in his performances today. His style is taut and tough, and relies on intensity rather than speed and pyrotechnics to make its point.
He has played with and backed up such blues greats as Sunnyland Slim, James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Snooky Pryor, Mel Brown, Elvin Bishop, Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Bukka White and Dr. John. Over his career he has opened for Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, John Hammond , Albert Collins, and many more.
Davis' award winning CD "BLUES MEDICINE" was his first solo recording. It captures the music just as it is played live - singing and playing electric guitar. As always, a good dose of humour is present in his original tunes.
His latest, multi award winning release, "Painkiller" on ElectroFi Records, features 13 original songs backed by a stellar lineup of Toronto musicians he has worked with over many years. Painkiller took an impressive 4 awards at the 2004 Maple Blues awards!
Morgan Davis' passion for the Blues has never wavered... and he fully expects to be on the road for the rest of his life.