Long Bio                                                   

"Roots, Rock & Passion" describes the music and vibe of independent music artist Garrick Davis, a.k.a. Garrick Davis World Blues. With a literal lifetime of experiences and career accomplishments behind him, Garrick moved to Hungary in Central Europe in June of 2024 from the San Francisco Bay Area in California, “to establish a new life and to fully embrace the inherent challenges of doing so”  with his Hungarian-born wife, Zsuzsanna, who retired from her career in 2023, returning “home” after thirty years in the U.S.. 

Davis, a self-taught guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, bandleader, and teacher was born in Casper, Wyoming in 1958 to Ernest Sr. and Marie, a former swing band drummer and classically-trained operatic soprano vocalist, respectively. Ernest Sr. worked as a mail carrier by day and custodian by night to provide for his family that included three children, Beverly, Ernie Jr., and Garrick. 

The family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1965 due to a promotion Mr. Davis earned, which lifted his status into management with what was then called the U.S. Post Office. A fourth child, Teresa, was born to the Davis’s in 1968. A change of organizational structure and name as the “U.S.Postal Service” sent the family to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971. 

“World Blues”, by Garrick's own definition, is “music spiritually connected to its African origin that offers the philosophical truth of the Blues, the freedom of Jazz, the immediacy of Rock, and the groove orientation of Funk. This music has been augmented by instrumentation of multicultural origins (whenever possible) and lyrically speaks to the challenge and universality of the human condition. “Garrick Davis World Blues” identifies both the foundation and creative reach and vision of Garrick’s wide-ranging style honed over 5-and-a- half decade of work, and independent development.

Davis's sixth album project is titled ”The Dignity Project ”, and will be released in a slow trickle as singles. It is a body of work inspired in part by the loss of his son, Zach, who was musically collaborative with his father as a keyboardist/vocalist. The father and son combination was fertile and mutually influential as Zach provided a fresh perspective to Garrick's midlife musical direction. The younger Davis steadily grew into his ultimate brilliance surrounded by older, experienced musicians, free and fully trusted to create his own parts. This led to Zach forming his own bands along the way. 

Recent Dignity Project Review (excerpt): “Aptly called The Dignity Project, Garrick Davis’ songs are both deeply personal and universal. They speak to the dignity of life and human existence. These are songs for our times. A time when our world is struggling with its capacity for humanity and dignity. Tempered by emotional and expressive depth, Davis’s songs are catalysts for awakening us to our shadow and our light, our lack of self-awareness, and our capacity for greater self-awareness.” - Raine Jordan

Garrick has been inspired by artists in the Blues, Rock, Soul, Funk, Jazz, Folk and Classical genres. At age three, Garrick declared he wanted to be an orchestra conductor, his "first" favorite music being Prokiev's "Peter & The Wolf”, a record his mother would play for him almost daily as a preschooler. Garrick has also had a lifelong exposure to Gospel music in the A.M.E. Church to which his parents belonged (his maternal grandfather was an A.M.E. pastor). This exposure would ultimately have a certain effect on Garrick’s writing style, his authentic original recordings and live performance work overall, especially later in life.

During the Great Recession  between 2009 and 2010 Davis received an opportunity that helped to bolster his confidence as a live performer, where he performed four to five times weekly at a venue called The Union Room, which was upstairs from the well known Blues club “Biscuits and Blues” in downtown San Francisco. This two-year stint helped Garrick gain invaluable stage experience as he played to a different domestic and international audience every night as a solo performer, the Union Room being close to many hotels. 

Garrick was employed in a professional capacity as the guitarist for The St. James A.M.E. Choir in San Mateo, CA. between 2016 and 2024.  This opportunity within that role helped to hone his chops, musical ear and broaden his understanding of music on the whole. Between this and the many appearances for diverse private and corporate clients as a solo act and with his band, Davis has enjoyed valuable experience and success in a very crowded field. 

Davis received his first guitar in 1970 at age 12, citing Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, James Brown, Jimmy Page(Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton(Cream), The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter and ZZ Top to be among his earliest influences as a young teen. Davis went on to discover the "sources"of those previously mentioned, including Son House, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Curtis Mayfield, Wes Montgomery. He also claims John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti), Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Jerry Garcia, Rory Gallagher and Pete Townsend to the list of "more than an afterthought" as inspirations. 

Listening to Davis's songwriting, which began at age 14, delivered with his particular, improvisational style, one can hear and feel the essence of the Roots artists from which he claims inspiration. In his music there is even a nod to the raw Punk and artful New Wave era of the late '70's-early '80's he observed in the clubs during their San Francisco heyday as well as odd-metered instrumental jazz fusion. It’s all in there.

Davis, beyond 50 years of music artistry, produces music of humanity. His music uplifts and, or soothes, is dense or sparse and, leans toward the spiritual - the dark and  the light. These influences have come together in synthesis to form a singular, "defiant-to-pigeonhole" yet recognizable style that is well evidenced throughout his Discography and  YouTube Videos.

In December 2020 Garrick tragically lost his son Zach at age 28. Zach played an essential role of influence upon the elder Davis, having shared musical ideas and songs previously looked over. Zach first broadcast his talents while in his mid teens on the "Expose Your Self" album (2010), contributing the instrumental track “Zinterlude”  and had evolved into a brilliant improvisational artist/musician in his 20's, his musical tools being piano/synth, his own voice and fluid imagination within "The Fabulous FunkyBand" and later Garrick Davis World Blues. Zachary Ernest Davis is missed and honored everyday by carrying his passionate love for music forward and being a guiding wind forevermore in his father's future creations.

Garrick Davis has evolved to consistently create, live or recorded, a transcendent musical experience under the moniker of "Garrick Davis World Blues" consisting of compelling songs laced with thoughtful messages brought to full dimension with his distinctive baritone voice anchored by an equally, present guitar style that is truly his own, yet still familiar. Whether performing solo or with the superb musicians he has performed with, these qualities deliver music that conveying valid characteristics of an open soul meant to go his own way to manifest art of value and worth.

Since 2001 Davis has independently produced and released  six full length albums as well as various singles, all without the assistance of a label. Davis' fifth album, "A House Full of Friends", that was performed and recorded live, alongside 15 musicians and vocalists from disparate backgrounds, brought together  to make music and subsequently made "magic", lighting the way for a new creative path on which to journey unabashedly.  

The creative and life path has brought Garrick Davis to a new home and spiritual center in Hungary with his wife. Now, energized with an “immigrant mindset”, Davis seeks to contribute his music and message to a new culture. While calling Hungary “home”, the location on the European continent opens up many new possibilities he hopes to turn into opportunities in a world that may finally embrace what his home country hadn’t, yet.             May history repeat itself.