W.C
Handy Award winner
continues Albert
Collins’ legacy
“She
pulls out all
of the stops.
She can play
it all: seductive,
soulful material,
down-home Delta
blues or humorous
tales of life
on the road.”
- Blues Revue
All
I Found,
Debbie Davies’ debut Telarc release, is
a gutsy, guitar-driven blues tour de force. Honing her chops
in the legendary Albert Collins’ band, the Icebreakers,
the guitarist/singer/songwriter
has been fronting
her own powerful blues units over the course of seven critically-acclaimed
releases.
Due at retail
on June 28,
2005, All I Found, her eighth outing as frontwoman, finds Davies
at the top of her game on an album
of eleven all-original
tracks co-written
with longtime songwriting partner Don Costagno.
The
backing unit,
featuring
an all-star
cast of Arthur
Neilson (second
guitar), Bruce
Katz (keyboards)
and the quintessential
blues rhythm
section of
Noel Neal (bass)
and Per Hanson
(drums),
provides
the perfect
foundation
for Davies’ distinctive
and articulate
guitar playing
and the most
emotive vocals
of her career.
“Fortunately for me, Shemekia Copeland and her band
were taking some down time, and I was able to borrow Arthur
Neilson for the project,” Davies says in her liner notes. “Arthur
is a guitar player’s guitar player. He can do it all,
from down and dirty Delta blues to uptown funky R&B. But
most important of all, he’s a great guy with a great
attitude and
he loves to
jam.”
One of only a few female guitar players with a Fender endorsement,
Davies has been nominated seven times for W. C. Handy Awards
and won the Handy Award for Best Contemporary Female Blues
Artist in 1997.
Davies’ parents were musicians – her father was
an arranger and session leader for Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra
and Pearl Bailey – and she grew up playing blues and
rock on the West Coast. Attending jam sessions in Los Angeles
put her in touch with players such as blues guitarist Coco
Montoya. Montoya introduced her to Maggie Mayall – wife
of British blues great John Mayall – which led to Davies
joining Maggie’s all-woman blues and R&B band, Maggie
Mayall & The Cadillacs in 1985.
Montoya
also facilitated
Davies’ next major career break.
Montoya had, at one time, been Albert Collins’ drummer,
and he introduced Davies to Collins. Collins asked her to join
the Icebreakers in 1988. She toured with Collins for four years,
leaving to play lead guitar for Jimmy Buffett’s harmonica
man, Fingers Taylor, in 1991. Collins and Davies played together
again in 1993 on Debbie’s solo debut for Blind Pig Records,
Picture This.
Later that
year, Collins died of cancer at age 61.
“There will never be another Albert,” Davies says
of her mentor. “He had such a specific style. What I
learned from him is that everything that comes out has to be
totally wired to your soul – no matter what. I saw how
much Albert could go through on the road – the headaches,
the setbacks, the breakdowns – and still reach inside
his soul each
night and just
give.”
Davies,
one of the
top
contemporary
blues artists
on the scene
today, injects
that same kind
of deep, soulful
resonance into
All I Found.
Whether performing
live or in
the studio,
Davies takes
Albert Collins’ legacy into a new century. She’s
giving the blues everything she’s got.
Debbie
Davies’ All
I Found (CD-83626)
is due at retail
on June 28,
2005.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Press: Mike Wilpizeski (718) 459-2117
Email: mikew@telarc.com
Tour Press: Jason Linder (216) 464-2313 ext. 257
Email: jlinder@telarc.com
Radio/Artist & Tour
Information:
Vikki Rzepka
(216) 464-2313
ext. 228
Email: vrzepka@telarc.com
TELARC International
Corporation
23307 Commerce
Park Road
Cleveland,
OH 44122
www.telarc.com
