Biography
Link Davis And His Bluebonnet Playboys
Western Swing Band
Members:
Fiddle, Vocals: Link Davis
Electric Guitar: Lee Bell
Electric Mandolin: Clyde Brewer
Piano: Mancel Tierney
Guitar: Joe Davis
Bass: Ray "Shang" Kennedy
Drums: Merle Powell
One of the most versatile and difficult-to-pigeonhole musicians of his era, who played everything from country, western swing and jazz to cajun, rhythm & blues and rock and roll, Link Davis was born in Wills Point, Texas in 1914. He made his recording debut as a fiddler and vocalist with Fort Worth's Crystal Springs Ramblers and was leading his own band (which included a black pianist) in Longview, in East Texas, by 1940. He reportedly served time in the early forties for marijuana possession, taking up tenor sax during his incarceration. By the mid-1940's, he has settled on the Texas Gulf Coast and worked with Cliff Bruner, Dean Rasberry and others before joining the Bluebonnet Playboys in 1947. Formed in 1946, by guitarist Lee Bell, the Playboys signed with Imperial soon after Davis' arrival, one of the first country acts to do so; recordings were issued as by Link Davis & The Bluebonnet Boys, although some sides featured Bell's vocals.
After initial sessions in Houston, the Playboys began producing their own at KTRM Beaumont and unissued "Texas Swing" seems to be a rejected take from one of these sessions - Imperial's files show only an unissued instrumental version of "Texas Swing." It's easy to see why this version wasn't sent - Davis was drinking and hit some very sour chords on the fiddle in the opening chorus - but it has plenty to offer despite this. The Playboys borrowed several musicians from Cliff Bruner for the date, including pianist Mancel Tierney, steel guitarist Harris Dodd and saxophonist Cotton Irwin, though only Tierney is heard here, playing a typically fluid solo. Heard to particularly good effect is the seventeen year-old up-and-coming multi-instrumentalist Clyde Brewer, playing some Tiny Moore-inspired electric mandolin. Lee Bell, who admired Gulf Coast jazz guitar legend Jimmy Wyble, has some brief solo space, while Davis emulates his vocal idol Milton Brown.
The Bluebonnet Boys broke up in the fall of 1947, most members joining Moon Mullican's band, though Lee Bell and Clyde Brewer regrouped several times in 1948. Davis bounced around from band to band over the next few years, as well as leading his own, working with Harry Choates, Benny Leaders and Morris Mills and others. In 1952, he began recording for Okeh in a Choates-inspired Cajun-swing vein and the next decade and a half found him busy and recording prolifically as both a bandleader and sideman for numerous labels - and in myriad styles. His health failed in the late 1960's and he died in 1972. His son Link Davis, Jr., also became a musician, working with such bands as Asleep At The Wheel, covering much the same eclectic ground his father had.
Members:
Fiddle, Vocals: Link Davis
Electric Guitar: Lee Bell
Electric Mandolin: Clyde Brewer
Piano: Mancel Tierney
Guitar: Joe Davis
Bass: Ray "Shang" Kennedy
Drums: Merle Powell
One of the most versatile and difficult-to-pigeonhole musicians of his era, who played everything from country, western swing and jazz to cajun, rhythm & blues and rock and roll, Link Davis was born in Wills Point, Texas in 1914. He made his recording debut as a fiddler and vocalist with Fort Worth's Crystal Springs Ramblers and was leading his own band (which included a black pianist) in Longview, in East Texas, by 1940. He reportedly served time in the early forties for marijuana possession, taking up tenor sax during his incarceration. By the mid-1940's, he has settled on the Texas Gulf Coast and worked with Cliff Bruner, Dean Rasberry and others before joining the Bluebonnet Playboys in 1947. Formed in 1946, by guitarist Lee Bell, the Playboys signed with Imperial soon after Davis' arrival, one of the first country acts to do so; recordings were issued as by Link Davis & The Bluebonnet Boys, although some sides featured Bell's vocals.
After initial sessions in Houston, the Playboys began producing their own at KTRM Beaumont and unissued "Texas Swing" seems to be a rejected take from one of these sessions - Imperial's files show only an unissued instrumental version of "Texas Swing." It's easy to see why this version wasn't sent - Davis was drinking and hit some very sour chords on the fiddle in the opening chorus - but it has plenty to offer despite this. The Playboys borrowed several musicians from Cliff Bruner for the date, including pianist Mancel Tierney, steel guitarist Harris Dodd and saxophonist Cotton Irwin, though only Tierney is heard here, playing a typically fluid solo. Heard to particularly good effect is the seventeen year-old up-and-coming multi-instrumentalist Clyde Brewer, playing some Tiny Moore-inspired electric mandolin. Lee Bell, who admired Gulf Coast jazz guitar legend Jimmy Wyble, has some brief solo space, while Davis emulates his vocal idol Milton Brown.
The Bluebonnet Boys broke up in the fall of 1947, most members joining Moon Mullican's band, though Lee Bell and Clyde Brewer regrouped several times in 1948. Davis bounced around from band to band over the next few years, as well as leading his own, working with Harry Choates, Benny Leaders and Morris Mills and others. In 1952, he began recording for Okeh in a Choates-inspired Cajun-swing vein and the next decade and a half found him busy and recording prolifically as both a bandleader and sideman for numerous labels - and in myriad styles. His health failed in the late 1960's and he died in 1972. His son Link Davis, Jr., also became a musician, working with such bands as Asleep At The Wheel, covering much the same eclectic ground his father had.