THE EDDY DAVIS STORY

I was born in Indiana (I am a Hoosier) and grew up on the banks of the Wabash (like the great song by Paul Dresser). As a child I would go out and rope a horse – make a rope bridle – climb up on a stump or the fence and ride off over the hills. My family traveled with a Wild West show. My father was a calf roper and bull rider. My mother was a fancy trick rider and starred in the pageant. My brother was a fancy trick roper who later became a calf roper and steer wrestler and is now a veterinarian and rodeo producer. Along the way I rode a few steers and roped some calves.

In junior high school I started playing music. Originally drums, then tympani, string bass, tuba, woodwinds and brass. For a while I played guitar with John King and the King's Men. It was an Elvis type group and the drummer was Brian Lamb. Brian is the fellow who started C-SPAN on Cable TV. At the age of 14 I was playing with a tenor dance band. It was what was known as a territory band. It used three tenor saxophones as the reed section. I played 2nd tenor sax on the dance numbers, then the leader (who played drums) would go out front and sing rock and roll, and I would go back and play the drums. I was earning union scale with this group that was called Paul Kenny's Medicine Men. Scale at that time in Lafayette was $12.25 for a three-hour job. My high school band director was Richard Bowles. He was the gentleman responsible for my journey into the theory of music. He is famous for writing and arranging concert marches. His arrangement of When the Saints Go Marching In is featured in the 2002 film Drumline.

The Eddy Davis Story