Fans of country blues and even the thump of old-time jug-band music will perk their ears up at the sound of the Guy Davis Trio. This is blues, with slides, stomps and growls. Davis can bring to mind Howlin’ Wolf, Blind Willie Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, the Memphis Jug Band, Leadbelly and Robert Pete Williams at times, with a voice that resonates and scrapes but still radiates warmth, endurance and joyous energy.
Davis is steeped in the blues and the breadth and depth of African-American folk traditions. He played Robert Johnson on Broadway. He’s appeared on “A Prairie Home Companion.” As a writer he’s studied and soaked up the works of literary giant and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston. Davis himself is the son of omnivorous cultural icons, the actors Rubee Dee and Ossie Davis, from whom he doubtless got first-hand exposure to the richness of African-American arts and culture as a child in 1950s New York City.
The Guy Davis Trio plays Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road W., Norfolk, on Friday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $24 to $39. 866-666-6306 and infinityhall.com.
