Media Release

For immediate release
March 10, 2006

Bluesman Guy Davis returns to The Banff Centre to record live concert DVD

Guy Davis and the High Flying Rockets Tuesday March 21 & Wednesday March 22 • 8:00 p.m.
Margaret Greenham Theatre, The Banff Centre
Tickets: Adult $15, Senior/Student/Child $13
The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301

“One of a handful of young blues singers keeping the acoustic tradition vital…Davis’ timeless vocals blow through your brain like a Mississippi dust devil.” The San Francisco Chronicle

The Denver Advocate described Guy Davis as “Tom Waits’ voice hooked to the guitar of Robert Johnson.” Davis’ soulful sound, his distinctive “honey and gravel” vocals, his dedication to the roots of the blues, return to The Banff Centre March 21 and 22 for two shows that he’ll film for a live concert DVD. Along with a special guest, mandolin player Ken Whiteley, and the other two members of the band The High Flying Rockets, guitarist Nerak Roth Patterson and bassist Mark Murphy, Davis brings his renaissance blues to Banff.

Hailing from Harlem, Davis plays what Playboy magazine calls “blues made for humming, stomping your foot, feeling righteous in the face of oppression and expressing gratitude.” His acoustic sound runs through six- and twelve-string guitar, banjo, and blues harp, putting an original spin on timeless tunes and pulling together the work of the great blues masters along with African American stories, original music, and performance pieces.

Davis’s most recent album, Legacy, was selected by National Public Radio as one of the best albums of the year. It follows on a career of artistry that has included writing for and acting Off-Broadway, writing and arranging film scores, and recording. His album, Call Down the Thunder was named one of the 30 essential CDs from a new generation of performers by Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Davis has been nominated for multiple WC Handy Awards from The Blues Foundation in Memphis, the same organization that gave him their Keeping the Blues Alive Award. “A singer and an artist in the rural mould of Robert Johnson or Mississippi John Hurt,” said The Scotsman, “he has got a voice like Howlin’ Wolf dipped in honey.”

Tickets for all Banff Centre events are available through The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301. The Centre’s Playbill Series continues with: Pavlo (April 8), Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women (April 9), Stuart McLean (April 12), and Ron Hynes (April 23).

For a high resolution downloadable image of Guy Davis: http://www.banffcentre.ca/media_room/images/playbill/

For more information on The Banff Centre’s Playbill Series:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/events/playbill/