Walter Davis
1905-1989
Walter “Walt” Davis was born in Cocke County, Tennessee, in 1905. At age eight, his father gave him a violin, but Walt traded it for a banjo. By age 14, Walt was adept at two-finger picking. Though not an uncommon playing style, Walt had his own name for it, “Fist and Skull”, after the frequent fights at the dance halls he played in.
It was his father who first taught the young Walter Davis how to play the banjo. The elder Mr. Davis was originally from Madison County, North Carolina, where he learned the two finger style of picking. Walter recalls that his father didn’t care for the clawhammer style, which he referred to as “Boom-a-loom, boom-a-loom.”
Not long after his father had taught him the rudiments of two finger banjo playing, the young Mr. Davis was ready to ply his new-found trade on the world. At his urging, his father deposited him at the busiest corner of downtown Newport, Tennessee (population 250). There he entertained the passing shoppers and pedestrians with his banjo. After a day of street playing, the young Mr. Davis had amassed four or five dollars in his hat. He deemed himself rich.
Photo (left) of Walt Davis and wife. Photo courtesy of Wayne Erbsen
In 1927, Walt Davis, Clarence Greene, Will Abernathy, and Gwen Foster formed The Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers. The group recorded music and traveled the region performing throughout the early 1930s. However, because work was hard to come by during the Great Depression, the group eventually disbanded.
In the late 1930s, Walt formed The Mount Mitchell Ramblers, who won second prize at the World Champion Fiddle Contest in Morganton, NC. The Ramblers would continue to play festivals and win contests throughout the 1940s. The Carolina Barn Dance ran weekly from 1949–1952, during which time “Uncle Walt Davis” and his Black Mountain Ramblers regularly brought down the house.
“After I got married, I settled down, and never really wanted to try to make it as a musician. Carpentering’s my trade. After I got married, I did organize me a band and had regular square dances for about a year. We had a dance team, cloggers, and a stage show booked into the Carolina Theater in Spruce Pine. I used different fiddlers, because no one fiddler would want to stay put that long. J.C. McCool played the guitar for me. We still play together occasionally.”
-Walt Davis
Listen to Walt Davis play “Crooked Creek Blues”
Toward the end of Walt’s life, Ray Greene’s picking parties in Swannanoa, NC, would be the focal point of his musical life.
Click here to learn more about the picking parties at Greene Acres.
