John Mark Davis - Bayou Self Sessions
In this week's episode, we're featuring the first album in fourteen years from bayou-dweller John Mark Davis: "Bayou Self Sessions" (2018). John Mark Davis was gigging in and around the Beaumont/Port Arthur region in Texas at the same time that Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd and Clay Walker were getting signed to major labels out of Nashville. They shared many of the same clubs, booking agents and contacts: the opportunity and talent to make it big was there. However the responsibility of a young family kept John Mark Davis living on the bayou, providing for a wife and two small children. Three decades later Davis' "Bayou Self Sessions" was born, an extraordinarily good collection of twelve traditional country tracks, including ten originals. Completed between Port-Neches, TX and Covington, GA and in direct consultation with his enthusiastic fanbase, this release runs the gamut from overwhelming tearjerkers to songs of hope and resilience; drinking anthems and tributes to the way it used to be. With prolific tele twang and steel guitar whine, highlights include the devastating "Love Me Back", another tearjerker written by John Mark Davis' younger brother Greg Chief Davis in "Together Alone" and the excellent harmonica cameo in "As Long As You Believe In Me". The timing wasn't right the first time around for John Mark Davis.. but it is now.