The Davys

Howard T. (Jim) Davy has lived most of his life in one of two towns at the end of a lone road that winds up Beech Creek into the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in north central Pennsylvania. Both Monument and Orviston were brick-making towns founded in the early twentieth century. But even in their heyday, they remained geographically isolated. Jim was raised in Monument and now lives with his wife Dot in Orviston, just a few miles from his daughter Karen and within earshot of his son Steve and daughter-in-law Linda Mae.

Musical Upbringing
During his boyhood days in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Jim passed the time listening to the Grand Ole Opry, Old Dominion Barn Dance and the Wheeling Jamboree on the family radio. A companion at the time, Dick Bowmaster, shared Jim's growing interest in music. Dick eventually bought a guitar and talked neighbor George "Fitz" Shady into giving him a few lessons. Jim followed Dick's lead and invested in his first instrument - a $19.95 Kay Guitar. Their mutual interest in music sparked a friendship that lasted for several decades.

The type of music they liked to play was called "hillbilly" or "mountain" music - the music they heard on the radio and on their neighbors' porches. At the time, however, this music was not popular among other kids of Jim's generation. He attended high school about 20 miles away in the city of Lock Haven where his classmates often made him feel like a "country hick" or "hayseed." It was painful for Jim. But he used his sense of humor and his talents to persevere with the music he most enjoyed.

The Ozark Mountain Boys
One night, in 1954, Jim and Dick decided to enter the Purple Whirl Talent Show at Lock Haven High School. They grew their hair long and took to the stage dressed in overalls and bare feet. The two numbers they played - the only two they knew - launched their career in music as the Ozark Mountain Boys. Their routine, of course, was pure comedy. Any attempt to play mountain music seriously would have led to instant ridicule. No matter, the act caught on and soon the Ozark Mountain Boys were playing the Kiwanis, Rotary and Masons.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Lock Haven residents could tune into WPBZ every Saturday night and listen to the Bald Eagle Valley Barn Dance broadcast from Hillbilly Haven just a few miles east of Beech Creek. Palmer Stover played the show with his group called The Trailblazers. Eventually, Stover heard about the Ozark Mountain Boys and asked them to join the show and play alongside his Country and Western band. He wanted the two "hillbillies" to provide comic relief when the show hit a lull. The deal was struck and The Ozark Mountain Boys took their act to the radio.

By the mid-1950s, Country and Western music had gained a solid following and the music (now increasingly electrified) could be heard nightly over the airwaves in the Lock Haven area. WSM, WWVA and WRVA were popular radio stations at the time. Jim and Dick resisted the Country and Western influence, however, growing more skilled and diverse with acoustic old-time music. By this time, Dick had added a fiddle to his repertoire.

Certainly a major influence on the Ozark Mountain Boys was the music dubbed "bluegrass" which was played by Hack Johnson and the Tennesseans on the Old Dominion Barn Dance beamed out of WRVA in Richmond, Virginia. This was the music that resonated with Jim and Dick - acoustic music with quick rhythms and syncopated harmonies in 3rds and 7ths that plead with the heart to listen and pay attention.

The Bluegrass Seed
One weekend, Jim traveled to the popular Hillbilly Park in Williamsport, PA to watch several bands perform on Bob And Deans' Radio Corral. The professional bluegrass band that took the stage that evening looked nothing like the Country and Western bands Jim was accustomed to. The players, dressed in plain white shirts, black ties, black trousers and white "buck" shoes, simply sang and played without the showbiz glitz so common at Country and Western performances. Here was his kind of music, played in earnest with respect for the musical tradition. He took note of the group's composition and the seed was planted for a new kind of band.

By 1957, Jim and Dick had moved together to Wellsview, New York where they both worked for the Worthington Corporation as drafting engineers. They soon joined up with the Kratzer Brothers to form the Bluegrass Cut-Ups. Jim finally had his old-time bluegrass band! The Cut-Ups played fundraisers, bingo nights, volunteer fire department picnics, and other social events until 1959 when Jim was laid off and returned to Pennsylvania.

Back home, Jim took up with Hank and Cook's "Old-Time Country Boys", a four-piece band that played local events and several live radio programs. But the travel and weekend play got to be too much and Jim "kinda gave it up." But he never gave up his interest in the music and his son Steve reaped the benefit of his father's years of experience. By the time Steve was a youngster, Jim had developed not only as a fine musician and singer, but also as a well-known local historian of bluegrass music. Under his father's careful guidance, Steve learned to appreciate and respect the old-time style of acoustic music so important to his father.

The Sounds of Bluegrass and Beyond
In 1965, Jim's interest was piqued once again and he formed a new band called Jim Davy and the Sounds of Bluegrass. As soon as young Steve could play guitar, he joined his father and the band toured festivals, schools, and universities within a 150-mile radius. All went well with the group until they started playing clubs and bars. Jim and Steve did not care for the noise of the crowds and eventually these jobs were dropped. The Sounds of Bluegrass brought old-time music to the area until the mid-1980s when the group finally disbanded.

Steve, however, has continued with his own band called Freelance. The four-piece group includes Steve on guitar, Paul Carothers on five-string banjo, Joe Harpster on mandolin, and Jim Lomison on the upright bass. Lomison also appears with the father and son team on this recording.

As is the case with most old-time bluegrass musicians, the boundary between sacred and secular songs is somewhat vague for Jim and Steve Davy. The instrumentation and plaintive harmonies are characteristic of both. The gospel songs are as much a part of the social setting created by the bluegrass songs as they are a part of the belief system that these people share. The festivals, community picnics and social gatherings offer people the opportunity to share artistic preferences and values that nurture their cultural identity and heritage.

Jim has lived through the changes in bluegrass from a time of ridicule in the 1950s to its present-day acceptance in mainstream Country and Western music. He has seen the influences of bluegrass on popular culture and vice versa. Through it all he has remained devoted to the old-time tradition - a tradition too precious, indeed, too significant to let it die. There is a connection between Jim and Steve, a connection rare between parent and child, that radiates from them when they sing together. This connection, this bond, is the music. But it goes beyond a respect for the integrity of a musical tradition. It is their identity, it is who they are.

© 2001 On Tour Productions