| Beth Davidson .... at age 20 I discovered some bizarre love-child connection to the busic biz... but I'm just not that complicated. It's an interesting screenplay, but the players could have been anybody... okay. THAT might be an overstatement. :)
My folks were both musicians in their own right. They were both from eastern Kentucky. Mama played guitar and sang in a gospel trio. Daddy (who had been all over the world after a stint in the Marines, but landed in Chicago) had a hillbilly band. Skip the details of how my righteous mother ended up in a honky tonk on the south side of Chicago-and just say they met, fell in love, moved back to Kentucky, and here I am.
I'm not ashamed to say that Daddy worked the coal mines of eastern Kentucky. So yes, I was born a coal miner's daughter. And being wedged up between 2 mountains where we lived, we didn't have much in the way of entertainment. We received exactly 3 TV channels (in good weather) and a couple local radio stations. So it wasn't nothing strange to load up the guitars and go somewhere like Cecil Burkhart's on Friday evening (Cecil could play the heck out of anything with strings) and we might sing till well after midnight. And God have mercy, when Daddy got his hands on an old reel-to-reel recorder, we were a regular RCA studio right in the living room floor!
I went 1 year to college with the pretense of being an attorney (mama said I liked to argue, so it seemed logical). But when I finished that first year at college I didn't go back. Instead, I cancelled my car insurance to get the refund, and with $400 in my pocket, I took off for Nashville. No plan. No contacts. No clue. I guess I thought if I hummed loudly enough in line at the grocery store, someone would discover me. Yeah, because Nashville is just *that* hard up for talent.
I did get a job, and took some classes. I lived in Nashville for 2 years, until the second round of holidays away from home started wearing on me. And then, as quickly as I had arrived in Nashville, I was gonehome.
Turning the corner...
In less than a year I turned the "legal age" of 21, and in less than a month, I found a band...or they found me (I'm still not sure how that went). The rest is a country music cliche'. We played our share of taverns, fairs, and a few dives. I've been fortunate to share the stage with some really talented musicians, from Morehead, Kentucky, to Palm Springs, California.
In 2005, just when most of my friends thought it was time to hang up my tambourine for good, I was hit with inspiration for the first of a string of original tunes. After meeting with engineer/producer, Dan Weigleb with Mom's Music, we just started putting the music down and over the last 10 months it has developed into a CD of songs about my life that I believe real people can relate to - hold the sugar, please. I never set out to write a hit song based on a catchy hook or theme d'jour. There is always an emotional connection for me. So in the end, if my music is nothing else, I can at least say it's honest. I'm most proud of that. "Writing the Wrongs" is scheduled to be released this fall.
My first CD is approaching the final stages. The title is "Writing The Wrongs" and although we may slip a bonus track in there, it looks like we're shaping up with 12 tracks as follows:
Good Life
Better Left Unsaid
Think About You
She Rides
Jukebox Family
Take Your Time
Was It Good For You
I Wish That You Were Mine
The Devil's Wife
Hey, Hey!
Never Leave Harlan Alive (Cover of Daryl Scott's tune)
With My Clothes On
And I don't know that you can really pigeon hole the style into a sub-genre. I think there's something in here for everyone. Folks can keep an eye on www.bethsmusic.com for release date and availability. |
