Biography
Link Davis entered the world in 1914 in Sunset, Montague County, Texas. As one of eight siblings, he assembled a trio with two brothers toward the end of the 1920s and performed at local dances. Displaying an innate musical gift, he began on fiddle before adding saxophone. Once he turned professional, Western swing drew his focus, and an early steady engagement came as a member of the Crystal Springs Ramblers, the Fort Worth group that issued his debut recording in 1937. After stints with several other regional ensembles, he joined Cliff Bruner & the Texas Wanderers, contributing fiddle or saxophone to multiple sides they released in the early 1940s. In 1945 he launched his own group, later called the Blue Bonnet Playboys, and recorded his initial solo tracks in 1948. The next year he moved to Gold Star for a single release that featured his rendition of “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” issued under the title “Have You Heard the News.”
Throughout the 1950s Davis performed under assorted monikers while also supporting other artists, among them bandleader Benny Leaders, Floyd Tillman, and Smith Spadacene (billed as “the Harmonica Kid”), supplying fiddle or saxophone and occasional vocals across country blues, Cajun music, and rockabilly. Already in 1949 he had delivered a vigorous treatment of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” as “Have You Heard the News,” and his versatility might have positioned him competitively within the emerging rock & roll scene of the mid-decade. Tracks such as “Grasshopper” carried a distinctly southern character that limited wider appeal, yet his approach aligned more naturally with the new style than many country veterans who attempted it. Recording for Starday, OKeh, Columbia, Nucraft, Sarg, Allstar, and his own Western and Tanker imprints, among others, he accumulated an extensive body of work across these idioms, a factor that may explain his limited public profile. Although a steady presence in the business, his proficiency across multiple genres prevented him from attaining singular prominence in any one. He earned a footnote in rock & roll history by playing on the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” and Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear,” yet lasting recognition remained centered in country music.
Even during the 1960s he ventured occasionally into rock & roll, as with “Rice and Gravy,” without securing lasting traction there. He remained a leading session player and continued issuing recordings in Western swing, Cajun, and blues styles for various Houston-based labels until a stroke curtailed his work late in the decade. Thereafter his engagements grew markedly restricted until his death in 1972 at age 57. Only in the 1990s, through extensive reissues of material by Cliff Bruner and Floyd Tillman, did Davis’s broad contributions to country music, Western swing, and rock & roll receive fuller recognition. His son, Link Davis Jr., likewise a multi-instrumentalist, has pursued an equally diverse range of styles, including sessions with Asleep at the Wheel and a later edition of the 13th Floor Elevators.
Throughout the 1950s Davis performed under assorted monikers while also supporting other artists, among them bandleader Benny Leaders, Floyd Tillman, and Smith Spadacene (billed as “the Harmonica Kid”), supplying fiddle or saxophone and occasional vocals across country blues, Cajun music, and rockabilly. Already in 1949 he had delivered a vigorous treatment of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” as “Have You Heard the News,” and his versatility might have positioned him competitively within the emerging rock & roll scene of the mid-decade. Tracks such as “Grasshopper” carried a distinctly southern character that limited wider appeal, yet his approach aligned more naturally with the new style than many country veterans who attempted it. Recording for Starday, OKeh, Columbia, Nucraft, Sarg, Allstar, and his own Western and Tanker imprints, among others, he accumulated an extensive body of work across these idioms, a factor that may explain his limited public profile. Although a steady presence in the business, his proficiency across multiple genres prevented him from attaining singular prominence in any one. He earned a footnote in rock & roll history by playing on the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” and Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear,” yet lasting recognition remained centered in country music.
Even during the 1960s he ventured occasionally into rock & roll, as with “Rice and Gravy,” without securing lasting traction there. He remained a leading session player and continued issuing recordings in Western swing, Cajun, and blues styles for various Houston-based labels until a stroke curtailed his work late in the decade. Thereafter his engagements grew markedly restricted until his death in 1972 at age 57. Only in the 1990s, through extensive reissues of material by Cliff Bruner and Floyd Tillman, did Davis’s broad contributions to country music, Western swing, and rock & roll receive fuller recognition. His son, Link Davis Jr., likewise a multi-instrumentalist, has pursued an equally diverse range of styles, including sessions with Asleep at the Wheel and a later edition of the 13th Floor Elevators.
Albums
