SG History 10101 Mar 2006
SG History 101 - Jimmie Davis
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 This month, I thought it would be interesting to look back on a man that was able to reach the top in two different fields … politics and the music business, and ultimately tie it all together by doing in the end what he loved, to sing gospel music. This renowned man is none other than two-time Louisiana governor and country and gospel music Hall of Famer Jimmie Davis. Davis' story begins a LONG time ago. James Houston Davis was believed to have been born September 11, 1899 in the small town of Quitman in northeast Louisiana, and was raised in a two-room shack in a sharecropper family, where he lived with his 10 siblings as well as his grandparents. Davis' birth records are difficult to verify, but the above date is the best estimate. Country and gospel music were integral parts of young Jimmie's life, and the youngster learned early on how to sing and play a guitar. Jimmie was not deterred or limited by his circumstances. Although his father only had a third-grade education, Jimme graduated from high school in nearby Beech Springs, and attended Louisiana College, where he sang not only in the glee club, but in a quartet in school called the Wildcat Four. Upon graduation, he continued his studies at Louisiana State University, where as a graduate student he again sang in the glee club and was tenor for another quartet, the Tiger Four. Earning money by street-singing and washing dishes, he obtained a master's degree at LSU by 1927. Davis became a history professor at Dodd College, a Baptist junior college for women, but tired of the academic life within a year and began to work as a clerk at the Shreveport Criminal Court, which he would do until 1938. It was here he got his first taste of politics, which would help define his future. All the while though, Davis vigorously pursued a musical career as well. Right after he received his master's degree, he began to sing regularly on Shreveport's powerhouse radio station KWKH, a station that the Blackwood Brothers Quartet would sing on some years later. He began to make his first records at the station as well. After cutting a couple of sides with piano accompaniment, Davis started making records for Victor in 1929, and for the next four years proved himself a capable imitator of the style of the era's biggest recording star, Jimmie Rodgers. Rodgers proved to be a worthy inspiration to Davis, but by the early 1930s Davis developed a softer, "crooning" style, a style at odds not only with the honky tonk blues style of Rodgers, but also one at odds with some of the other material he recorded for RCA, some fairly risque blues tunes that would not disappear from Davis' repertoire completely until the 1950s. But by 1934, a new record company came to the United States as a subsidiary of a British label. That label, Decca, signed Davis and steered him toward western swing. By 1935, Davis had his first major hit record, "Nobody's Darling But Mine." The money Davis earned from that enabled him to pay off his debts and buy a farm. In 1936, he had a second hit which became a country standard, "It Makes No Difference Now". And by 1938, Davis was popular enough to be elected commissioner of public safety for Shreveport. That same year, Collier's Magazine called Davis and Gene Autry the two biggest stars in country music. In February 1940, Davis recorded his all-time signature song, a song titled "You Are My Sunshine." The song is credited to Davis, though in subsequent years it was revealed that Davis "bought" the song from Paul Rice, who himself may have purchased the copyright. Not only was it an international smash hit for Davis, 350 other artists including Bing Crosby and Gene Autry recorded it as well. Eventually the song was translated into 30 languages. The sharecropper's boy from Quitman was an international recording star. Naturally, with international fame came movies, and Davis made the first of four movie appearances in 1942. That same year, he became Louisiana State Public Service Commissioner, which was a sort of springboard to the governorship in Louisiana. And in 1944, Davis challenged incumbent governor Earl Long for his post. During the campaign, Long tried to deride Davis as an opportunist only running for the office based on his personal popularity, even trying to mock Davis by playing his records at campaign appearances. That strategy backfired when people began dancing to them at Long's campaign stops, and Davis, no fool when it came to opportunity, traveled with his band and literally made concerts out of his campaign appearances. Davis won the governor's race easily, but his new job didn't stop him from making movies or records. In 1945, Davis had his biggest chart hit ever, "There's A New Moon Over My Shoulder", which made the #1 position on Billboard's country charts in March of that year.  Davis in the 1960s Such a career direction stood in stark contrast to many other artists, such as Martha Carson, whose successful gospel career fizzled and died by 1954 after she made an unsuccesful fling into country music. Even artists such as the Oak Ridge Boys, who became international country stars by the 1980s, established themselves first as gospel singers to pave their way into the country music field. Davis would have no more hits on the order of "You Are My Sunshine", but that didn't appear to be important to him any more. By 1960, Davis returned to the governorship of Louisiana, helped in no small part by his association with the Plainsmen Quartet, who relocated to Louisiana for a time from Kansas to work for Davis as backup singers. He appeared regularly on the gospel music circuit beginning at that time, and again had a hit in the gospel field with Stanphill's "Mansion Over The Hilltop". Davis also had a country hit in 1960 with "Where The Old Red River Flows". He remained governor until 1964, then left politics for good. He tried once more to be governor in 1971, but his age (72) and the field of 19 candidates proved to be too big an obstacle for even Davis to overcome. People didn't seem to mind much that Davis was no longer in office, they loved him for the music he made, and for the remainder of his recording career, he stuck pretty much to gospel music. Davis continued to write gospel songs that became popular, such as "He Knows What I Need" (heard on Tennessee Ernie Ford's Grammy Award winning gospel album "Great Gospel Songs" in 1964), and he co-authored such classics as "Sheltered In The Arms Of God" (w/Dottie Rambo) and the Happy Goodman classic "I Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now" (w/Rusty Goodman). Davis also served as president of the Gospel Music Association in 1967.  Davis in the 1980s Davis also was elected to the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1972, a year after having been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame the year before. Davis also made a special new version of "You Are My Sunshine" in 1998, and the following year celebrated his 100th birthday by perfroming four songs at a benefit for the Jimmie Davis Tabernacle fund.  Jimmie Davis celebrating his 100th birthday at his home in Baton Rouge Davis once said that his goal in life was to spread as much sunshine as he possibly could, and the length and breadth of his life and recording career certainly testifies that he was faithful to his calling. Reader Comments
John,What a great article! I thought I knew a lot about Gov Davis - but what I knew didn't scratch the surface. What a great man! And - thank you for your continuing labor-of-love to provide this great biographical information on so many that have made such giant contributions. We're fortunate to have you, John.
Cliff Cerce
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SG History 101 - Jimmie Davis
 Written: 03/01/2006  Author:  Category:
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