Gail Davies Biography
Country Music International aptly described Gail Davies as “One of the most important and influential female singer/songwriters to have been involved in country music in the past 20 years.” She was the first female record producer in country music and is cited by many of today’s pop and country divas as their role model. “The person who kicked open so many of the closed doors on music row.”
The release of Gail’ newest CD, The Songwriter Sessions (a double disc featuring 45 of her original compositions), is a welcome treat but no surprise to those who have been following her career from the early days. Though often best known for her pioneering production work, Gail is also a gifted vocalist and a prolific songwriter. She was the writer of Bucket to the South for Ava Barber (also recorded by Lynn Anderson), Hometown Gossip for The Whites, I Need My Baby Back for Wild Rose, A Love That Could Last for Patty Mitchell andTell Me Why for Jann Browne as well as her own Top 10 singles, Grandma’s Song and Someone is Looking For Someone Like You. Her compositions are some of today's country radio standards and have been recorded around the world by internationally known artists like Nana Mourskouri, Ireland’s Susan McCann and Japan’s Mari Nagatomi.
As a singer, Gail's voice (described by Jazz critic, Nat Hentoff, as "brilliantly evocative") has earned her numerous nominations from the CMA and ACMA, as well as the coveted award from the DJs of America for Best Female Vocalist. One of the few artists to have ever received a standing ovation on the Grand Ole Opry, Gail is a consummate performer who has played venues from the Ryman Auditorium with Del McCoury to Britain’s Royal Concert Hall with John Prine. She has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America, as a guest of the CBS television special, Women of Country, the TBS documentary, America's Music and the BBC series, Lost Highways. She has been featured in Newsweek, Rolling Stone and USA Today and described by No Depression as “One of Nashville’s most iconoclastic performers.”
Gail Davies began her life as Patricia Gail Dickerson in Broken Bow, Oklahoma on June 5, 1948. Her father, Tex Dickerson, was a country singer who played around the Texas/Oklahoma club circuit during the 40’s and occasionally appeared on the famed Louisiana Hayride. Gail was steeped in the music of traditional country from an early age but was later influenced by the 60’s British invasion and the music of Bob Dylan. Gail left Oklahoma at the age of five and moved, with her mother and two brothers, to Washington State. Her name was changed when her mother remarried and Gail and her siblings were adopted by their kind and loving stepfather, Darby Davies.
After graduating from South Kitsap high school in 1966, Gail moved to Los Angeles where she met and married a Jazz musician. She attempted a brief career in Jazz but quit soon after they divorced and began working as a session singer at A&M studios. Her initial interest in record production began when she was befriended by songwriter Joni Mitchell. Gail sights Joni as a major influence in her life but it was A&M’s top recording engineer, Henry Lewy, who spent hours in the studio teaching Gail how to produce her own music.
During her days at A&M (late 60’s to mid 70s), Gail was invited to sit in on a number of landmark sessions including one with ex-Beatle, John Lennon. “Sitting at the board between Lennon and Phil Spector was the most incredible thing that happened to me at A&M.” Gail recalls. “Everyone was recording there back in those days. Joe Cocker, The Carpenters and Carole King. It was a great learning experience. I was lucky to be a part of it all.”
Frank Zappa, who saw Gail performing with the “Midnight Band” at the Troubadour, was also impressed with her singing ability and invited her to join his band for a European tour. “He told me I was the ballsiest chick he’d ever seen on stage,” says Gail. “That was back when I was singing Rock and Roll and screaming like Janis Joplin. It was another lifetime ago.”
But Gail had to turn down Zappa’s invitation as she had already accepted an offer to tour with country legend Roger Miller. She made her national television debut as Roger’s duet partner in 1974 singing on the Merv Griffin Show. Gail’s song, I’m Hungry I’m Tired (featured on her live album), was written for the late Roger Miller.
Surrounded by so many great songwriters, including Gail’s older brother, Ron Davies (the writer of It Ain't Easy for Three Dog Night and David Bowie), Gail bought a guitar in a pawnshop and began writing songs. She signed with EMI Publishing in 1975 then moved to Nashville where she immediately scored as the author of Ava Barber’s hit single, Bucket to the South. The exposure led to a contract with CBS/Lifesong Records in 1978 and the release of Gail’s first album simply entitled Gail Davies (This LP has recently been re-released in CD format.).
Gail began producing her own records in 1979 beginning with The Game on Warner Brothers. She delivered a series of critically acclaimed albums and Top 10 and Top 20 singles during the 80's which included: Blue Heartache, No Love Have I, Poison Love, I'll Be There, It's a Lovely, LovelyWorld (a duet with Emmylou Harris), Round the Clock Lovin', Jagged Edge of a Broken Heart, Hold On, Like Strangers, It's You Alone (a duet with Ricky Skaggs), Grandma's Song, Break Away, Someone is Looking For Someone Like You, You Turn Me On I'm a Radio, Singing The Blues, Lovin’ Me Too (a duet with Vince Gill), Boys Like You, Nothing Can Hurt Me Now, Good Lovin’ Man, You’re a Hard Dog To Keep Under the Porch, Hearts in the Wind, Waiting Here For You and Unwed Fathers (a duet with Dolly Parton).
In 1985, Gail signed with RCA Records. She traveled to England that same year to perform at the Wembley Festival. Inspired by British singer, Hank Wangford, she returned to form a country/rock band called Wild Choir. Considered by many to be the forerunner of today's Americana movement, they released one self-titled album (produced by Gail and her guitarist Pete Pendras) and two singles, Safe in the Arms of Love (later recorded by label mate Martina McBride)and Heart To Heart.
Gail returned to a solo career in 1988 and signed with MCA Records to produce Pretty Words with label head Jimmy Bowen. Despite her choice for Tell Me Why (written by Gail Davies and Harry Stinson) to be released as a single, MCA ignored her request and the song became a hit for newcomer, Jann Browne. Gail left the label soon after and moved to Capitol/EMI. She produced two CDs, The Other Side of Love and The Best of Gail Daviesbefore accepting a position at Liberty Records in 1990 as country music’s first female staff producer.
After three years of working with talented, new artists like Mandy Barnett, Gail formed her own label, Little Chickadee Productions. The first LCP release, Eclectic (10 songs written, sung and produced by Gail), was chosen by Tower Pulse as one of the “Ten Best Albums of the Year.” Other LCP releases include: Love Ain’t Easy, Gail Davies Greatest Hits, Live at the Station Inn and her newest, The Songwriter Sessions.
“For years Gail Davies has been like one of music's private treasures,” wrote William Zmudka in the book Her Music Is Her Own, “Jealously hoarded by a relative handful as someone special, a sort of gourmet's delight. She has been adored by critics, highly respected by musicians, songwriters and fellow artists and beloved by a hard core of music connoisseurs. She is said to be the first female recording artist in Nashville to produce her own records. I asked her why that was so important to her and she replied, without hesitation, "Because I'm so good at it." My first reaction to such a statement from such a normally understated woman as Davies was to laugh. But it was no joke. Modesty is a virtue but false modesty and female self-effacement are not the lady's style. There is nothing of the weepy, down-trodden, victimized woman in her singing or in her personality."
In 2002, Gail Davies received an IBMA award and a Grammy nomination for her duet with bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley. She was also nominated for an Americana award for her production of Caught In The Webb, a tribute to country legend Webb Pierce featuring George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Pam Tillis, The Jordanaires, Dwight Yoakam, Charley Pride, The Del McCoury Band, Crystal Gayle, Dale Watson, Allison Moorer, Guy Clark, Mandy Barnett, BR549 and more.
To find out more about Gail Davies and her music, you can visit her website or write to us at: Little Chickadee Productions, PO Box 120545, Nashville, TN. 37212 (USA).