Jimmy Davis finds reward in doing music his way

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff

It wasn't hard for Jimmy Davis to figure out when, exactly, his music crossed over from mainstream appeal to that of a cult artist.

After all, "Kick the Wall," by Jimmy Davis and Junction, got some airplay and even a video in rotation on MTV. But when the whole pop-rock thing ran its course and he returned to what satisfied him the most, it wasn't before long that his ticket got punched with the trappings of a cult singer-songwriter -- a small but diehard fanbase, a wheelbarrow full of critical praise ... and no interest at all from commercial labels or radio.

"Yeah, I figured it out when I couldn't get a record deal," Davis told The Daily Times this week with a chuckle. "When I first tried to get a record deal, I got one, and I made a pop record. When that kind of ran its course at the end of the '80s, I kind of changed direction, and I just thought, hey -- I'll get another deal doing more roots kind of music. And everybody thought I was crazy.

"I went to Nashville, but back then, I was still too rock. Three or four years later, I was too country. I think it's more all of those things changing than me, though. There's a world out there that exists of radio, and it's getting smaller and smaller, and now we have this satellite thing. Even though it's great and they're playing more independent artists, there's still only so much time people can get played on there.

"That's the game that goes on in Nashville. It takes a real commitment to be a part of something like that, because it's so ladder-based, and if you get in and don't stay in, somebody's going to take your place. It's hard, and it's not for some people. And for more independent-minded people like myself, it's more important to do what you want and what you like. It's just more satisfying as a creative person than any of that other crap."

When he first started out, Davis was content to play ball -- mostly because he was still finding his footing in music. That was in 1987, when "Kick the Wall" was released. As a solo artist, he returned home to Memphis and began fusing a myriad of styles into one that's his own. Along the way, he gained the respect of his peers, both as a performer (he's backed everyone from Jonny Lang to Iris DeMent to Oak Ridge Boy William Lee Golden to Bernie Leadon of The Eagles) and as a songwriter (his songs have been recorded by Martina McBride, Restless Heart, Joy White and others).

In 1996, Davis and his Junction bandmate, Tommy Burroughs, re-formed The Riverbluff Clan, a Memphis country-rock-bluegrass outfit from the 1970s. Under new guidance, the band released two albums, one of which earned a Top 20 spot on the Gavin Americana chart. A few solo albums here and there (2004's "Jimmy Daddy's Acoustic Song List" and 2006's "Campfire Songs") led to a collaboration with the famed Dickinson clan of Memphis -- uber-producer Jim and his sons, Cody and Luther, who make up the North Mississippi Allstars.

"Jim Dickinson, he changed everything about the way I think about music," Davis said. "I've always been a pretty independent spirit, but Jim really freed me up after my pop days about the way I thought about recording, about how it's just going to be what it is and how you should just let it go there. To me, that was the way to record and just be -- it made it fun again, because studio work was hard for me in the '80s, when it had to be so rigid and perfect."

Thanks to "studio rehab" by Dickinson, and the sour taste left in his mouth by a stint as part of the Nashville songwriting machine for a few years, Davis is more determined than ever to make his own way in the world. It may not get him airplay or legions of fans or Billboard hits, but that's OK -- it'll be music done his way, without compromise.

"When I was writing in Nashville, I would write all the time, but that's not writing for the sake of it -- that's writing to try and get something happening, and you never know if you're going to be successful with that," he said. "The way I see it, why not be honest with yourself, and if you're successful, you have the best of both worlds? That's why I want to play my music -- they're my songs, and I want to sing those songs every night and not what somebody has picked for me to record. And I'm going to keep doing that whether I have a record deal or not."