Bluegrass | Cullman, Alabama
David Davis and the Warrior River Boys have long been recognized as modern leaders in traditional bluegrass. Their musical playbook reflects their energy, commitment and pure Bluegrass spirit. Davis has deep musical roots, with his uncle Cleo having been an original Blue Grass Boy with Bill Monroe.
He grew up hearing bluegrass and early country music at his father’s knee. From those early influences in rural Alabama, Davis went on to sing with his dad, everything from Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, to Cowboy Copas, and Ernest Tubb. At the impressionable age of twelve, with his family, he first heard Bill Monroe play live and his life was changed forever.
Since then, Bluegrass has been Davis’ lifetime calling.
David Davis joined Garry Thurmond and the Warrior River Boys in 1982 at the age of 21 and by late 1984 accepted the role of bandleader. Since then, he and the band have appeared in forty- six states, all Canadian Provinces and the Bahamas.
In 2014, Davis was inducted into The National Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the National Old-time Country Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Music in 2016. In 2018 they produced a project to bring back to life songs of Charlie Poole from the 1920s.
“The idea of recording a tribute to Charlie Poole was very interesting to us,” says Davis. “For years we had mentioned him as our candidate for ‘Grandfather of Bluegrass Music.’ The best tribute that we could offer was to try to take the key elements from Poole’s music and evolve that into more modern forms of traditional music, stating our case for Poole being not only a worthy candidate for ‘Grandfather of Bluegrass,’ but actually ‘Grandfather’ for a much broader roots music family.” Davis continues, “This particular recording contains the most extensive variety of traditional roots styles that we have ever included on one recording, it’s a marriage of old‐time tunes melded with bluegrass instrumentation, rhythm, and harmonies.”