Dr. David Evans
Dr. David Evans is a blues historian/musician and retired professor who makes his home in the greater Memphis area. In his youth, he was exposed to a wide variety of music such as: classical, spirituals and popular standards, but when he heard the Kingston trio, he became very interested in folk music. While exploring the roots of folk music, he would learn about Leadbelly, the Weavers and other earlier folk artists. This would eventually lead him to discovering the blues, where he made it a lifelong journey of learning, researching and performing it. In his college years, he would make frequent trips to the south to do field research and this would be very instrumental in documenting and recording the blues right from the source. A few examples of the important results are in his books: Big Road Blues (Tradition & Creativity in the Folk Blues), Tommy Johnson, The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to the Blues and many other writings. He also recorded many known and undiscovered blues pioneers. David took his knowledge as an ethnomusicologist and had a very distinguished career as a professor at the University of Memphis. As a musician, David has showcased his skills in performances and workshops all over the world. I recently corresponded with David about his career.
R.V.B. - In your youth --- prior to the Folk revival years --- What music were you exposed to?
D.E. - My parents, especially my mother, exposed me to classical music, especially 19th century romantic composers like Tchaikowski. I was also exposed to Negro spirituals as performed by artists like Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. And I took trumpet lessons around the age of 11-13 and played in a Junior High School marching band (baritone horn). I listened to rock and roll music on the radio in the late 1950s. I enjoyed all of this, but none of it attracted me strongly as blues music would later. (Of course, some of the rock and roll was blues, but I didn’t know it by that name.
R.V.B. - The Kingston Trio sparked a tremendous avalanche of interest in folk music with the release of Tom Dooley, how did this change your interest in music?
D.E. - The Kingston Trio and Harry Belafonte were the first “folk” artists I heard. Of course, they were revivalists and not really folk singers, but the songs seemed more based in reality and more interesting and more mature than the popular music of the time. From these artists I soon moved to the Weavers. I noticed that many of their songs came from people like Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie, and so I began to seek out recordings by them. Lead Belly led me to seek out other blues recordings, and by 1962 I was able to see live blues (Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon).
R.V.B. - The greater Boston area was a focal point for this exciting new period of music in the late 50s and early to mid 60s... did you go to the coffee houses and clubs to watch the new revival performers as well as the older legends. How did it shape your future as far as performing and further studies?
D.E. - The Boston-Cambridge area was the ideal place to be in for hearing blues. At first (1961-1962) I saw revival “folk” artists like Tom Rush, Jackie Washington, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, etc. By 1962 I mostly went to coffee houses and concerts to see the blues artists who were being rediscovered. I found them to be more interesting than the revivalists. By the time I graduated from Harvard in 1965, I was determined to find a way to pursue the study of this music.
R.V.B. - Who were some of the people that you worked with during this time... in both sharing performance music interests as well as learning about the musical past? How did you go about doing research at this time?
D.E. - I didn’t do too much “research” while I was at Harvard (1961-1965). It was mostly acquiring LPs and tape dubs of blues, reading album notes and books and magazine articles, and attending concerts by the artists. By purchasing about 20 LPs and 3 or 4 books one could become an instant expert on the subject! I did interview Bukka White, Son House, and Babe Stovall, and wrote articles about each of them. I met other people who were seriously interested in the music – Al Wilson (later of Canned Heat), Phil Spiro, Dick Waterman, and Laurie Forti (a record collector). None of them were students at Harvard.
R.V.B. - How did you enjoy your years at Harvard? Did you have any favorite subjects or teachers?
D.E. - There were no courses in blues or any type of folk music at Harvard, unless perhaps a literary course in the ballad (which I didn’t take). My degree was in Classics (Greek and Latin language and literature). I did take courses from Prof. Albert Lord in Epic Poetry and Folk Literature (myth and folktale) and from Prof. Cedric Whitman in ancient Greek epic. They were my greatest teachers, and their ideas about epic poetry as oral literature greatly influenced my understanding of blues. Folklorist Bruce Jackson was a postgraduate fellow at Harvard and a resident in my dormitory house, and he introduced me to the academic field of Folklore and advised me to go to UCLA for graduate study. I had many other great teachers. Harvard was a wonderful educational experience.
R.V.B. - You went to UCLA for your graduate work. On the way there, you made the first of your field work studies in the south. What was your initial plan in the field and did it go as planned?
D.E. - Yes, I stopped in New Orleans on my way to UCLA in late August, 1965. There I met Marc Ryan, who had brought Babe Stovall north to Cambridge for some blues concerts earlier that year. Marc and I drove to Franklinton, Louisiana, with Babe to meet and record Roosevelt Holts, a bluesman and friend of Babe. I was interested in the relationships between the music of people who knew and performed with one another, how blues were part of a “tradition." That was my first real “field” recording session. It was quite dramatic. Franklinton was a “dry” town, and Roosevelt was a local bootlegger. He had just arrived home with a carload of liquor, and all his customers were there. So the recording session became a big party. A white policeman was patrolling. the street outside, but fortunately he didn’t approach the house (because Roosevelt had his shotgun pointed at him through the window). It was a very dangerous scene, but I survived!
R.V.B. - There was some fine musical events happening on the west coast during the time you were studying there. It had its own folk scene as well as rock and roll... and of course surf music? Did you experience some of these genres as well? How did you maintain your focus on blues research with these potential distractions?
D.E. - The West Coast club scene was a bit different, because the clubs served beer, and there was the commercial influence of Hollywood. Also by 1965 there was some merging of the blues with rock music. Electric blues was more acceptable. The older folk scene had been mostly acoustic. I didn’t take an interest in surf music. Actually, surf music had reached its peak of popularity a bit before I came to southern California. I did take a greater interest in rock music – Beatles, Stones, other British groups, the Doors, Hendrix, etc., and of course my friend Al Wilson began playing in Canned Heat. But my primary interest remained country blues.
I was able to see most of the same artists that had performed in Cambridge. I didn’t take an interest in the Los Angeles R&B scene, which I regret. Yes, there were many distractions – the entire “hippie” scene – and I don’t understand how I managed to stay focussed on country blues and my university studies. But I did!
R.V.B. - In your subsequent field studies, Did you choose an area to maybe study and search for unknown musicians or did you have a person or people in mind to seek out?
D.E. - My field research was focused on gaining an understanding of the blues tradition and how it worked, so I was looking for musicians who performed with one another. I was not randomly looking for blues musicians. Usually I would get “leads” from one musician to another. I concentrated on certain communities, such as Franklinton, Louisiana, and Tylertown, Mississippi, Baton Rouge and Jackson (urban traditions), Bentonia, Mississippi, and later Como and Senatobia, Mississippi.
R.V.B. - Two famous blues musicians that you have written about in the past... Charley Patton and Tommy Johnson... have similarities in style, as well as differences. One of the differences are their vocal approach. Charley had a rough shouting style delivery and Tommy used a falsetto almost crooning style. Are these differences from local upbringings or more of a regional effect?
D.E. - I became aware of the musical similarities of Patton and Johnson probably around 1964. But they do indeed have very different voice qualities. I think their voices were just naturally like that, but it might also reflect their personalities. Patton was perhaps more of a “rough and tumble” character, and Johnson probably avoided direct conflicts and provocations. It’s hard to say, because I never met them.
R.V.B. - The great wealth of blues musicians came from the deep south and eventually made their way north as well... There are differences in approach to the blues, such as the blues from the Carolina's and the blues from Texas. Why do you think that some blues musicians were strictly blues musicians and some were both blues musicians and songsters? Do you think the latter were better and more diversified musicians?
D.E. - This is a difficult question. The so-called “songsters” are indeed generally more versatile as musicians. They certainly are in their repertoires. Blues is relatively simple in form and harmony, so it is easy to get started in blues and sound fairly good. By the 1930s there were many artists who specialized in blues and performed little else. The artists who came to maturity earlier often had broader repertoires. There are many factors that cause an artist to specialize in blues – or not. Some artists and some audiences find blues to be too limited musically. Others want to provide music for all tastes, audiences, and occasions, so they perform blues and anything else that appeals.
R.V.B. - What do you feel are some of the greatest accomplishments of your field studies?
D.E. - That’s hard to say. I “rediscovered” some artists who had made earlier commercial recordings – Rube Lacy, Boogie Bill Webb, and I recorded many great artists for the first time – Jack Owens, Mott Willis, Mager Johnson, Ranie Burnette, Isaac Youngblood, Herb Quinn, The Fieldstones, the Hollywood All Stars, and others. I’ve produced quite a few records of field and studio recordings. Then there are my books and many articles based on my field research. It’s hard to pick individual items.
R.V.B. - In the years of your field research and studies, how did these studies enhance your musical technique as a guitarist and a musician?
D.E. - I always tried to watch and listen to other artists, especially the solo guitarists. I seldom played along with them, never in field recording unless they specifically needed a guitar accompaniment (e. g., a fiddle or harmonica player). I thought it was important to get a mental image of the sight and sound of a musician. Then I try to be like that person. Most of my songs are ones I learned or adapted from artists I know from fieldwork or ones I studied intensively from historical recordings. So I have a kind of “personal relationship” with the source of a song.
R.V.B. - What were some of your favorite gigs or venues that you have performed at?
D.E. - That’s hard to say, because there have been so many. I like all kinds of audiences and venues, because each one is a different challenge. Noisy bars and quiet audiences at house concerts or culture centers. I’ve had some unusual audiences – drunken Scottish sailors at a bar in a port city in Latvia, bikers in a rural roadhouse in Germany, 4,000 students at an outdoor concert in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, a big festival in Venezuela, wineries in France, a barn dance in the French Pyrenees, etc.
R.V.B. - During your tenure at The University of Memphis, you were instrumental for the development of the High Water Recording Company. What was the main way of finding artists to record? Was it also field work or did some just audition... or both?
D.E. - I found most of the High Water artists through fieldwork. A few I had met before I came to the university (1978 – R. L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Ranie Burnette). Some were found by students of mine – Junior Kimbrough, the various gospel groups. A few were already more or less “known” - Hammie Nixon, Hezekiah and the House Rockers, Raymond Hill. And one – Waynell Jones - was recommended by a friend at another university. The Jubirt Sisters approached me about recording.
R.V.B. - What did you enjoy the most about working at the University of Memphis?
D.E. - I most enjoyed the opportunity to work with graduate students on their projects and see them produce good dissertations and other research that resulted in publications. Of course, I also enjoyed the opportunity to do my own research – fieldwork, recording, writing.
R.V.B. - Congratulations on the Grammy's that you've received for your Journalism and liner notes. Can you describe what these honors mean to you?
D.E. - Thank you. The Nomination is really the important thing, because it is determined by a panel of experts. Voters often choose a product for reasons other than the actual merit. But the Grammy award gets a lot of publicity, so in a sense it validates all of my writing. It’s amazing how much importance people attach to it. I am even often introduced at my performances as a “Grammy winner.” It’s a bit embarrassing, because my awards are not for performance.
R.V.B. - What are your future plans in your semi-retirement?
D.E. - I’m still very active, both in research and as a performer. I have two European tours planned for later this year and several trips out of my home area. Of course, I would like to play larger and better paying gigs – festivals, etc. But it’s hard to break through to that level at my age. Also, many people think of me as a researcher/writer and perhaps think that my performances will be “academic.” In writing, I’m working on a genealogy of Charley Patton and a book about my early fieldwork in the 1960s. Also I hope to write a revised version of my book on Tommy Johnson and a book on Blind Willie McTell. And I have many recordings I would like to publish – not only blues from my fieldwork, but also my recordings made in Venezuela, Ethiopia, and Malawi.
Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz
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Good day!
Is there a way to get in touch with Mr.EVANS?
I had a letter from him many years ago and I just happened to find it, after so many years! He sent me a 'photo he took of me with "The Hollywood All Stars" when they performed in Caracas.Venezuela. I am a singer and I was in the audience with my friend John De Souza...I hope a get a response....Better late than never!Now I live in Barcelona, Spain...That's life!I'd love to hear from you, Mr. Evans!
Thank you!
Cecilia
Posted by: CECILIA BELLORÍN | 07/27/2021 at 08:44 PM
[email protected]
Posted by: David Evans | 01/22/2023 at 02:36 PM