About
Davin JamesDavin’s music is more “black water” than “red dirt”. That’s probably because he grew up watching his father play guitar on lake banks in North Louisiana and South Arkansas. Davin James was born in Jackson Mississippi December 6, 1965. He attended grade school in Monroe, Louisiana and Eldorado, Arkansas. In 1978 he moved to Kingwood, Texas. This is where he learned to play the guitar. His dad, Mike James, bribed Davin to learn Merle’s, Ramblin’ Fever, for $100. “Keep your money, Dad, and put it towards an electric guitar,” Davin tells. The rest is history. Through the 80’s, he played honky-tonks, covering Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Synyrd as well as top 40 country songs. In 1995, Texas music legend, Gary P. Nunn was handed a cassette tape. “That really started my professional musical career”, says Davin. Gary P. recorded four of Davin’s songs; Guadalupe Days, Back In the Swing, If You Had A Mind Too, and Siesta Sunday for is Roadtrip CD. 1995 also gave us Davin’s first CD, “Making My Mark”, best known for the song “Guadalupe Days” and “Back in the Swing”. The latter landed in the movie “Happy Texas” in 1999. Davin landed another song on Gary P. Nunn’s 1996 release, “Under My Hat”. The song was the auto biographical, “I’ve come a long long way”. Davin was also invited to play guitar on those sessions. The record was recorded at Willie Nelson’s Perdenales studio. Davin’s 1998 was up and down. He lost his father in February of that year to a heart attack. He married in December to Tammy Sue. Along with Tammy came Dylan and Jesse. Then Garrett James joined them in May of ’99. In 1999, Davin released his second effort, “Nowhere Lounge”. The title cut was written by his late father Mike James. It was during this time that Davin started playing dates and writing with Larry Joe Taylor. In 2000, Larry Joe’s, Heart of the Matter CD, included four Davin co-writes; Let’s Pretend, Robbin’ Peter, Two Steppin’ On The Beach, and Coconuts. Davin also played and sang on this recording. Some live shows were recorded around this time and Davin got included on Larry Joe’s Port A to Port B CD. It had another co-write with LJT; Take it Breezy. That song was also was recorded for LJT’s Summer Days CD in ’03. Davin found success in 2001 with the CD, “Magnolia”. The title cut and another song, “Rolling Dice”, charted on the newly formed Texas Music Chart. “Those two songs remain my most requested. I usually have to do ‘Magnolia’, a couple times per night.” “Rolling Dice” enjoyed a radio and TV advertising campaign for Dodge. In 2002, Davin started a singer-songwriter show in Old Town Spring (30 miles North of Houston) at a venue called Puffabellys. He has a guest join him every Wednesday for a song swap. His weekly guest list is quite impressive. On Wednesday nights, you’ll find the likes of Max Stalling, Ray Wiley Hubbard, Gary P. Nunn, Larry Joe Taylor, Tommy Alverson, and Adam Carroll joining Davin, just to name a few! After Magnolia’s success, a newly formed label out of Dallas, Texas, Ranger Records, signed Davin to a three year deal in 2002. They basically re-recorded Magnolia and shot a couple of videos. The record was never released. When the Ranger deal ended, He put out a quick live record in 2005. It was recorded at Blancos, a legendary Houston haunt. The Bad Ranger deal along with the pressures of relentless travel and road life caught up with Davin in 2004. He underwent angioplasty surgery and received three stints in his heart. He took this as a sign to do things his own way. Davin started buying studio gear. He recorded “Palmer Lake” at home in his new studio, “The Tater Shed”. It was released in 2006. “Old Soul”, was released in early 2009. “Buck Owens Freeway” is Davin’s latest 2014 release. It features Kevin Fowler singing with Davin on “Sandbar” and also features Larry Joe Taylor singing on “Chillax” which he also co-wrote. The title cut has a co-write with Brian Burns. “Johnny’s Music, Billy’s Bible” is co-written with Doug Montgomery, Texstar Ford.