Two musically-inclined Ellijay brothers are proud to have been inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame (ACMHOF) as part of its 2019 class, despite circumstances that prevented both of them attending the 38th annual award ceremony.
Both Vic and Larry Davis were experiencing health problems when the induction ceremony was held last November at the DoubleTree by Hilton Perimeter Hotel in Atlanta. They are now at home recuperating and have received their award plaques from the organization that recognizes regionally and nationally-known musicians who’ve contributed to the genres of country, bluegrass and Americana.
“Me and Larry were both in the hospital. I was in a rehab (place) after I broke my hip and he was having his shoulder worked on. Neither one of us was able to go to the ceremony. I would have liked to have gone because it was a one-time thing. I’d been home four or five days from rehabbing the broken hip and (wound up) having to have quadruple bypass surgery,” said Vic Davis, who confirmed that he and Larry are both doing better now.
Love of music shared between brothers
Music was big in the Davis family as Vic, 86, and Larry, 84, were growing up in Ellijay.
“There was a little music somewhere in our family all the way down. Our daddy played the fiddle and his daddy and granddaddy did, too,” he added.
“My brother, Bobby, and his sons are in (gospel group) the Davis Trio. They stay booked most of the year and have opened for some pretty big-name people.”
Ed Forrester, a lifelong friend and 2018 ACMHOF inductee, remembered playing music with the brothers at a young age.
“I lived up there on Roy Road and they were out yonder on Clear Creek. I’ve known them all my life and I used to go out there and spend the night with them,” he said.
Forrester, who plays guitar, fiddle and several other instruments, remembered getting an early fiddle lesson from Vic and Larry’s dad one night during a concert at the old Oakland School.
“When I started out, my daddy had this old fiddle, but I didn’t have a bow so I picked it with a comb tooth broke out of a comb,” he said.
“We was at Oakland School one night. Willie, their daddy, was there and I was picking that fiddle with a comb tooth. He shook his head and told me I was supposed to use a bow and I told him I didn’t have one. He handed me the bow he was using that night and I played a couple of things till he got it back and went out onstage.”
Larry credits big brother Vic for inspiring him to first pick up an instrument.
“Vic was my mentor always, in just about all my endeavors,” he said.
“Before we had an instrument, I remember Vic would sit in front of the radio -— TV wasn’t out then — with a stick of wood pretending to strum on it. Later on, I think we traded a bicycle for a guitar and there were always instruments laying around. I learned to play the mandolin first because it’s a little more simple to do, then I took up the guitar.”
Larry said the two always enjoyed being able to make music, no matter the setting, both together and apart.
“We’ve always played for the schools and mostly for local people. It’s been enjoyable all the way through. About all I play now is a tune at church, unless somebody has a benefit show,” he added.
“It’s not that I don’t like to play music any less, but Vic really loves it. He plays the bass, so there’s been a lot of bands after him and I like to play more solo.”
“I never did even think about going professional because it’s so hard to do that and have a family,” Vic said. “As good as I like music, it’s hard to break into it to make anything much and just about everything that goes on is at night and you’re always away from your family. But everything I’ve ever been able to do with it, I’ve loved.”
Before he started playing the electric bass, Vic’s primary instrument was the pedal steel guitar, the twangy, weepy contraption that originated in Hawaii and later became prominent in the golden age of country and western music.
“When I first started playing the slide guitar, I had a little lap steel that I played with a bar for years,” he said. “I also played the pedal steel for years and loved it, but it’s heavy and it can be a lot of trouble. You have to tear it down, go somewhere, set it up and play three or four tunes. Then you’ve got to tear it down all over again.”
Not only is the pedal steel a chore to carry, it’s also a complicated instrument to learn, he added.
“I really admire steel guitar players and even more since I could play it a little bit. They’re really complicated,” Vic said. “They’ve got several pedals, anywhere from three to nine, and any of those pedals can be rigged up to loosen or tighten a string or a combination of strings. They’ve also got knee levers that do the same thing. You can get all kinds of sounds with those.”
Being in a country and western dance band with fellow Ellijay music man Doc Sanford allowed Vic to play behind several legendary Grand Ole Opry stars and established country acts. Several of those concerts were promoted by Georgia-governor-to-be Zell Miller.
“Me and Doc Sanford, J.L. Burgess and the Kirk boys, Ricky and Randy, had a band that played mostly at dances over in Fairmount at the American Legion Hall. One time, I played there for two years every Saturday night and another time for four years every Saturday night,” he remembered.
“Through (country singer) Bill Anderson, Zell knew a lot of the guys in Nashville so he started promoting shows with the Grand Ole Opry stars up in Blairsville. My music gave me the chance to meet several of those people and do some one night gigs with them. I was still with that band from the dance and he (Miller) would get us for the singers that didn’t bring a band. Claude King, Carl and Pearl Butler and Charlie Walker all came there at one time. I also played behind Red Sovine one night. Sometimes he’d get a group that brought a band, like Porter Wagoner, and we’d get to play on the show, but not behind the (headliner). We were on the same bills as Porter, Ernest Tubb and several more.”
He’s especially proud to have played steel guitar behind Loretta Lynn.
“The thing I remember most about the night Loretta Lynn was there was that she treated us like we were a band that had come from Nashville with her. Of course, we weren’t that good, but we were able to follow her and put on the show,” Vic said. “Junior Samples happened to show up the same night that Loretta played. He wasn’t scheduled (to appear), but he did and I played behind him, too. I ended up doing another show with him. I think it was in Jasper.”
Larry said his guitar hero is innovative Nashville picker Chet Atkins. He met Atkins several years ago when the two were featured on a WSB-TV program.
“It was for a show called Dream Weavers that Virgina Gunn did. My wife, Alice, sent a letter in because I’d always wanted to meet Chet Atkins and maybe play a tune with him. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a teenager. I heard him on the Grand Ole Opry and didn’t even know who he was then,” he said. “They chose her letter and I actually got to do that. I hung around at his office for a while and got to talk with him and play. He was a laid-back, real nice guy.”
Davis said Atkins’ nimble finger-picking greatly influenced his own approach to playing guitar.
“Him and Merle Travis and Les Paul. I’ve always liked guitar players,” he said. “I do the rhythm and melody at the same time on most of my tunes. That’s the kind of music Chet did. On his earlier recordings, he was doing it all by himself.”
The brothers got to combine their musical abilities and connections hosting local ETC-3 television programs The Davis Brothers Variety Hour and Mountain Music, on which they performed alongside special guests.
“We did about two years of music and I personally booked about a hundred individuals or bands,” Larry said. “I wrote the theme to Mountain Music, did production work and setting up the set and I usually ran one of the cameras. It was really the chance of a lifetime.”
The two shows still air in rotation on the local cable channel.
“For one of our better shows, they asked us to do some true Nashville Sound (country music). We would also book choirs from a lot of churches and that went over good with the audience. We had room for a pretty good size group, so I booked a big band. That went off good and was also one of our better shows,” Larry said.
‘The best feeling’
The Davis Brothers have played in front of three different Georgia governors, but both said the most rewarding thing about playing music together through the years has been lending their talents to various charities and fundraisers including the Lions Club Special Friends and the Kids’ Car Show at Gilmer Middle School.
“We’ve done a lot of benefit (shows). Just about any charity that was around in our time, we helped at one time or another. I got the best feeling out of doing any kind of charity (show). I never really had lots of money to give, but I had a little talent that I could give,” Vic noted.
For decades, they were essential participants in the Ellijay Heart Fund Show, a longrunning musical variety fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
“We were involved in it a lot, even our wives and families were involved,” Larry said.
“I think there was a total of 50 or 52 of them and we were involved in it pretty heavy. I played on at least 40 and Larry played on nearly that many, too,” added Vic.
The two are appreciative of the recognition from the ACMHOF. Their awards were accepted by Forrester, who nominated them for the honor.
“If you know who Fiddlin’ John Carson is, his grandson and his grandson’s wife started it in 1982,” said Forrester about the hall.
“Vic and Larry deserve to be in there. They’ve done a lot for this community. I’ve never known of them to say no when they were asked to help for a benefit show. They’ve played for no telling how many people over the years and never got noticed for it. Somebody would say ‘we need a bass player or a guitar player’ and they’d just walk out there and do it.”
“It’s a good honor and I’m tickled with it. There’s a lot of musical talent around here that I hope some day can be recognized. There’s lots of good musicians around here,” Vic said.