“The 14 songs are brimming with delta soul and Appalachian energy. Tupelo and Always Lookin’ are back-and-forth duets that fall somewhere in the space between Johnny & June and an uncontrived version of Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock.”—Uncommon MusicNot a bad comparison in either case.
Ricky and Micol Davis, shortly after marrying in 1994, began their musical life together at an open mic night at Sassy Ann's in Knoxville, which proved to be the beginning of something very special. After releasing their debut album, My Side Of The Road, in 1997, they moved to Nashville in 1998. Vanguard recording artist Mindy Smith, who had just moved from Knoxville to Nashville a few months earlier, encouraged Ricky and Micol to move to Music City. The four-piece band continued to perform throughout Tennessee, western North Carolina, and Georgia in clubs and opened concerts for Delbert McClinton, Grand Funk Railroad, and Pat Travers. In between the 4-piece combo shows, the Davis duo performed at open-mike nights and songwriters’ rounds in The Music City. A change in musical direction led to regrouping, and Ricky & Micol set out on their own again.
It's been said that a BMT performance is like stepping into a "pentecostal revival" -- with Ricky and Micol's gritty, sweet, soulful harmonies, earthy sounds of gutbucket guitar and slide, gospel piano & roadhouse pounding of tambourines. But the foundation to all of their work is to channel what is innately deep within them and to let it come forth naturally without definitions or restrictions. In May 2009, Blue Mother Tupelo released their third studio CD called, "Heaven & Earth". "Heaven & Earth" is an album that's honest & earthy, soul-stirring & foot-stompin', celebratory songs of love, faith, friendship, wandering, longing and beauty - southern soul, hill country blues.
That Nashville Sound- What brought you to music in the first place? >> We both (Ricky and myself) have an innate love of music - it’s gotta be something that we were both born with because we pretty much can’t help ourselves when it comes to making music and loving it. Ricky grew up in a family of guitar pickers and with a Dad who writes songs, passing the time on the long & lonesome highways during his job as a truck driver. I was born into a music loving family with church singing being the main outlet. My dad was a Baptist preacher and I was brought up to “sing it like you mean it”.
TNS- Describe your music- what's the mission behind the music? >> Whatever is part of us is part of our music - whether it’s blues, rock & roll, soul, country … We’re not concerned with genres. We write & play what we feel. Others have described our music as country-rock, bluesy, soulful Americana, swampadelic. Our mission is to explode with what we’re feeling and hope that we can make people feel okay about expressing themselves and feeling stuff, too. Whatever emotion it is, indulge in it and connect. The main thing is being authentic and being ourselves and to encourage the listener (who are people just like us) to let go, let loose, & feel something. <<>> Well, we’re mostly “what you see is what you get”, so this is tricky. Maybe that a homegrown tomato is one of our favorite things, or that Ricky never flew on an airplane until 2005 when we went to the premiere of the movie “Daltry Calhoun” in Hollywood (we have a song in the final scene of that movie), or that I taught elementary school music several years before diving in full-time with Blue Mother Tupelo … are those things surprising?
TNS- What kind of music are you listening to? What's in your iPod? >> well, we haven’t replaced our iPod, which showed up wearing an “unhappy face” the last time we turned it on … but, mostly we listen to stuff that has inspired us from the get-go. Real country music, hill-country blues, mountain music, Muscle-Shoals and Stax stuff …
TNS- If you had a crystal ball and looked forward five years, what do you see for yourself?
>> Gosh, who knows what 5 years from now will look like? We’ve been Blue Mother Tupelo, now, for 14 years and it keeps getting better and better. We can’t be without music and expressing ourselves in this way. We write when we’re inspired to write and we are thankful that we can share our expressions outside of our home, in the homes and hometowns of the people of the world. My prayer is to be where I’m supposed to be and if that means that we get to continue to create music, put it down in records, sell them, make a living at it, then that’s what I want. Every day is an eye-opening surprise and as a youngster I had a certain view of success, my impression of it so impacted by what was/is mainstream, in your face, top 10, etc … If I had my way today, we’d be at the top of our game in 5 years, creating beautiful, raw, emotional music, making the world a better place and making money enough to take care of ourselves, share it with our loved ones, and give to those in need.
TNS- Nickname for your guitar or other instruments?>> As of today, my tambourine’s nickname is Tammy Faye … & Ricky has no nicknames for his guitars -- yet.
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