No Use in Preachin' the Blues
Chicago Calling - The Life and Sound of Cyril Davies - D. Todd Allen
D. Todd Allen [+]
Music journalist and scholar
Description
January 1964 Cyril dies: A few years before Mike Vernon had helped shape the careers of Eric Clapton, John Mayall and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, he and Neil Slaven published their post-war blues periodical, R&B Monthly. They were working on their second issue of R&B Monthly when Vernon had to report on the passing of Davies. This excerpt from Vernon’s tribute affirms Davies’ strategic purpose and serves as a fitting epitaph to a very remarkable talent, “...He never attempted to imitate anyone, at least not consciously. Sonny Terry, Little Walter and the original Sonny Boy influenced his approach, but the final sound one heard was that of Cyril Davies. In everything he did, Cyril was an individualist. He knew what he wanted. It was apparent that his many admirers respected him for this: and they loved his exciting, virile approach to the blues...Cyril was above all else a bluesman.”