Meg Davis
Encyclopedia
Meg Davis is an American singer of traditional music
. She is also a songwriter, best known for her classic ballad "Captain Jack and the Mermaid" (recorded by many world folk groups such as De Dannan
). She is known primarily as a folk musician and folklorist specializing in historical ballads as well as a composer of stories and music in the same genre as Donovan
and Fairport Convention
.
Her solo performances throughout the festivals, concert halls (including the Town Hall in New York City
and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.) and cathedrals throughout the USA, Scotland
, Wales
, England
, Ireland
and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome
have gained her a reputation as a first rate musician and vocalist. Meg has won the respect of her fellow Irish/American musicians for her sensitive and powerful renderings of traditional Celtic songs, and sea ballads, and for her beautiful guitar accompaniment of Scottish, Irish and Breton
dance tunes. She has put these talents to use as a long-standing member of the Joe Burke Trio whose leader is the legendary Galway button accordion
ist. In addition to her regular appearances with Joe Burke, Meg also performed and appeared on stage with such diverse musicians as Bill Monroe
, Alan Stivell
, Doc Watson
, Pete Seeger
, Ewan Maccoll
and Peter Yarrow
to name just a few.
Meg Davis was winner of the Best Young North American Songwriter Award in 1978, chosen and awarded the honor by Peter Yarrow, and has 5 albums of original music and 4 albums containing traditional ballads of land and sea to her credit. In 1990 Meg collected and arranged a collection of Scottish, Irish and original songs, entitled The Claddagh Walk produced by Donald Shaw
of Capercaillie
and recorded in Scotland.
Of her album Captain Jack and the Mermaid, Richard Harrington, writing for the Washington Post remarked that it was "one of the most refreshing and brave new albums I've come across in a long time". In July 1991 the Washington Post said of Meg's performance of "Such a Parcel of Rogues" in the National Cathedral that "she gave a crystal clear reading in a sparkling vibrato that illuminated the whole of that sacred place".
Her music can be heard throughout the world thanks to fans of her ballads who have shared their copies of her CDs with radio stations from Lapland to Argentina, Lithuania
to Japan. Some of her compositions have been used in film and documentaries, several songs are in use as theme songs for television shows in the Netherlands, there have been choral renditions created by choir masters in the US and UK for children's choirs and her music has even been heard floating across the ice of Antarctica from the broadcasting station at the McMurdo Scientific Installation
.
In 1993 Meg Davis was forced to stop touring and performing before live audiences due to multiple sclerosis
, fibromyalgia
and arthritis
. She continues to compose musical works and strives to return to the studio in the future to provide us all with more enchanting songs and to share her unique voice which, according to one 9 year old fan, sounds like "the chiming of bells".
Although many a music critic has felt that Meg must be a classically trained composer, singer and guitarist she is self-taught, learning to play the guitar at the age of 12. She began songwriting at the age of 14 and taught herself to sing listening to old recordings of Mario Lanza
and Frank Sinatra
on her grandmother's record player. Meg's primary musical instruments are acoustic and electric guitars : 1960s-vintage Martin guitars 6 and 12 string, 1984 Taylor guitars
made by Robert Taylor and a 1995 Fender Telecaster
. Her greatest musical influences have been Donovan
, Joni Mitchell
, the Beatles
, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
, Benny Goodman
and Jethro Tull
.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. She is also a songwriter, best known for her classic ballad "Captain Jack and the Mermaid" (recorded by many world folk groups such as De Dannan
De Dannan
De Dannan was an Irish folk music group. They were formed by Frankie Gavin , Alec Finn , Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh and Charlie Piggott as a result of sessions in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal, County Galway, subsequently inviting Dolores Keane to join the band...
). She is known primarily as a folk musician and folklorist specializing in historical ballads as well as a composer of stories and music in the same genre as Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
and Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
.
Her solo performances throughout the festivals, concert halls (including the Town Hall in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.) and cathedrals throughout the USA, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
have gained her a reputation as a first rate musician and vocalist. Meg has won the respect of her fellow Irish/American musicians for her sensitive and powerful renderings of traditional Celtic songs, and sea ballads, and for her beautiful guitar accompaniment of Scottish, Irish and Breton
Breton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
dance tunes. She has put these talents to use as a long-standing member of the Joe Burke Trio whose leader is the legendary Galway button accordion
Button accordion
A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons rather than piano-style keys. There exists a wide variation in keyboard systems, tuning, action and construction of these instruments...
ist. In addition to her regular appearances with Joe Burke, Meg also performed and appeared on stage with such diverse musicians as Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
, Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Ewan Maccoll
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
and Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
to name just a few.
Meg Davis was winner of the Best Young North American Songwriter Award in 1978, chosen and awarded the honor by Peter Yarrow, and has 5 albums of original music and 4 albums containing traditional ballads of land and sea to her credit. In 1990 Meg collected and arranged a collection of Scottish, Irish and original songs, entitled The Claddagh Walk produced by Donald Shaw
Donald Shaw (musician)
Donald Shaw is a Scottish musician, composer, producer, and one of the founding members of the group Capercaillie. His sister is fiddler Eilidh Shaw....
of Capercaillie
Capercaillie (band)
Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band, founded in the 1980s by Donald Shaw and fronted by Karen Matheson. They have seen four of their albums placed in the UK Albums Chart, and continue to perform and record to the present day.-History:...
and recorded in Scotland.
Of her album Captain Jack and the Mermaid, Richard Harrington, writing for the Washington Post remarked that it was "one of the most refreshing and brave new albums I've come across in a long time". In July 1991 the Washington Post said of Meg's performance of "Such a Parcel of Rogues" in the National Cathedral that "she gave a crystal clear reading in a sparkling vibrato that illuminated the whole of that sacred place".
Her music can be heard throughout the world thanks to fans of her ballads who have shared their copies of her CDs with radio stations from Lapland to Argentina, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
to Japan. Some of her compositions have been used in film and documentaries, several songs are in use as theme songs for television shows in the Netherlands, there have been choral renditions created by choir masters in the US and UK for children's choirs and her music has even been heard floating across the ice of Antarctica from the broadcasting station at the McMurdo Scientific Installation
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
.
In 1993 Meg Davis was forced to stop touring and performing before live audiences due to multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, a heightened and painful response to pressure. It is an example of a diagnosis of exclusion...
and arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
. She continues to compose musical works and strives to return to the studio in the future to provide us all with more enchanting songs and to share her unique voice which, according to one 9 year old fan, sounds like "the chiming of bells".
Although many a music critic has felt that Meg must be a classically trained composer, singer and guitarist she is self-taught, learning to play the guitar at the age of 12. She began songwriting at the age of 14 and taught herself to sing listening to old recordings of Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
on her grandmother's record player. Meg's primary musical instruments are acoustic and electric guitars : 1960s-vintage Martin guitars 6 and 12 string, 1984 Taylor guitars
Taylor Guitars
Taylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars. It was established in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug.- History :...
made by Robert Taylor and a 1995 Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
. Her greatest musical influences have been Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
and Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
.
Discography
- Captain Jack and the Mermaid (1979)
- Dream Of Light Horses
- Swing The Cat
- The Music of Wonderland (1987)
- The Claddagh Walk (Lismore Records, Scotland 1990)
- By the Sword (1991) (All original music, lyrics and arrangements by Meg Davis based on By the Sword by Mercedes LackeyMercedes LackeyMercedes "Misty" Lackey is a best-selling American author of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar...
) - Live at Dennos (1992)
- Captain Jack and the Mermaid Special Edition (2000)
- The Burning West Indies (2004)