Favorite Pastime: Singing

Singing is one of my favorite things to do. I enjoy singing in almost any style, but I am particularly drawn to strong melodies. That being said, I am not much of a harmony singer because I gravitate to the melody.

Growing up in rural Wisconsin, you aren't exposed to much cutting edge music on the radio.  What you do have are oldies, classic rock, country, and metal. My favorite of these would be oldies; hands down. As a kid I couldn't get enough of the fifties music. The Be-Bop-a-Lula's and Dip-Dip-Dip-Dip-Dip-Dip-Dip-Dip's grabbed my attention and never let go. Songs by the Coasters, Dion and the Belmonts, Big Bopper, etc. are some of the first songs I remember singing along to. I'm sure it didn't hurt that there was a major throwback to the fifties during the eighties. 

Soon I was listening to the Beatles, The Mamas and The Papas, and The Lovin' Spoonful. The sixties were an amazing time for arrangements, orchestration, and lyrics. Bands like the Grass Roots and The Association had such a full sound compared to most early and current rock n roll. This is still my favorite era of popular music.

I became immersed in folk music during my college years. Something about moving to the bustling metropolis of Chicago. Singing along to Harry Belafonte's Live at Carnegie Hall is probably the best training any singer could have. 

As an adult, playing out in Colorado I realized my voice lends itself well to country music. I still enjoy singing all styles of music and I occasionally run the gambit at karaoke.

Bill Davis

Song History: Davenport

I was visiting my brother and his wife in Cumberland Gap for the weekend when I ended the trip on a bad note. We were working on something that required a computer. Their office doubled as a scrap-booking and craft area. While it occurred to me to keep liquids away from the computer, it did not occur to me to treat the craft table in a like manner.

Just before I left, I knocked my nearly empty coffee cup over. Though a small amount, the coffee traveled everywhere fast. Needless to say, I messed up some of his wife's scrap-booking materials. We did our best cleanup/salvage job, but the damage was done. She was busy at work and I wasn't able to apologize to her before leaving.

As I made the 3 hour drive back to Nashville I contemplated my clumsiness and lamented my mistake. The phrases "we can't take you anywhere" and "this is why we can't have nice things" came to mind. I started thinking about how maybe everyone I come into contact with should have plastic covers on their furniture. I also thought about how covering your furniture in plastic was a grandmotherly thing to do. My Grandma did not do that (because she was super classy and totally awesome), but she did call her couch a davenport. Davenport rolls off the tongue much better than scrap-booking table, (or any other word with a P next to a B) and so the substitution was made. Suddenly, just before Knoxville, the song came out as a stream of consciousness. Oddly enough, I was able to repeat it. I sang it over and over until I made it to Nashville, where I anxiously put pen to paper upon my arrival.

To this day, Davenport is the only song I've ever written that takes as long to play as it did to write.

Bill Davis