Bluesman Guy Davis is a true triple threat entertainer - a talented guitarist and songwriter as well as an accomplished stage actor - who has continued to raise awareness of classic blues music through his work. On February 21st, 2012 Davis will release his two-disc "audio play," The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With The Blues, on his own independent Smokeydoke Records label. The culmination of almost 20 years of work, Davis originally performed the one-man play onstage in New York City in 1994, and has revisited it several times since in front of diverse audiences in several cities.
Featuring a number of original songs written by Davis, The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With The Blues also includes material from legends like Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and Big Bill Broonzy, among other artists. Davis performs the stories and songs in character as "Fishy Waters," who travels throughout the south and meets a host of vivid characters. Often times playful and humorous, other times enigmatic, the album will preserve these tales and story-songs for blues fans unable to catch a performance of Davis's play.
Davis was working on the Broadway production Mulebone when he was struck with the inspiration for Fishy Waters. "I began to write The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With The Blues backstage at the Ethel Barrymore Theater while I was an understudy in Mulebone," Davis recalls in a press release for the new album. "I understudied four parts in Mulebone. Among them was the traveling blues musician played by Kenny Neal. The green room was downstairs, directly underneath the stage. Night after night I heard the footsteps of the actors as they danced and spoke. I knew most of the stories and longed to be on stage telling those tales and singing those songs."
Davis will be performing The Adventures of Fishy Waters onstage at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey from February 16th through 26th; details can be found on the theatre website. He will also be touring in support of the album, and we'll bring you the dates in the future.
Photo courtesy Smokeydoke Records
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