Ron Davies was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 songwriter and musician. He was described by CMT

Country Music Television

Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...

 News at the time of his death as "the family's artistic trailblazer" though "less celebrated… than his [younger] sister," country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Gail Davies

Gail Davies

Gail Davies is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of country singer Tex Dickerson....

.

Son of local country singer Tex Dickerson he took the name Davies after he was adopted by his stepfather, Darby Alan Davies. He began his professional songwriting career at the age of 17, when he penned an entire album for the Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

-based Wailers

The Wailers (rock band)

The Wailers, often credited as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular around the United States Pacific Northwest around the late 1950s and the start of the 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and roll...

. He released two albums of his own on A&M Records

A&M Records

A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...

, Silent Song Through the Land and U. F. O., the latter produced by Tommy Vicarri.

His song "It Ain't Easy

It Ain't Easy (song)

"It Ain't Easy" is a song written and originally recorded by Ron Davies. Davies recorded the song on his 1970 album Silent Song Through the Land...

" was covered by Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...

 and David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, among others; his "Long, Hard Climb" by Helen Reddy

Helen Reddy

Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...

 and Maria Muldaur

Maria Muldaur

Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...

; "The Man I Used to Be" by Jerry Jeff Walker

Jerry Jeff Walker

Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...

; and "Waitin' on a Dark-Eyed Girl" for by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...

.

Davies moved in the 1980s to Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

; there he wrote for Cedarwood Publishing and later for Warner/Chappell

Warner/Chappell Music

Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company, and a division of the Warner Music Group. The company traces its origins back to 1811 and the founding of Chappell & Company, a music publishing company and instrument shop on London’s Bond Street that, in 1929, began a rapid...

, and played the lead role in the 1999 music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the George Jones

George Jones

George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 song, "Cold Hard Truth

Cold Hard Truth

Cold Hard Truth is an album by American country music singer George Jones. The album was released on June 22, 1999 on the Asylum label. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 53 on The Billboard 200 chart. Cold Hard Truth went Gold in 2000...

." He died in Nashville , of a heart attack.

External links

• Official site
• Ron Davies: The Missing Link In Pacific Northwest Music History, Dave Beck with Eric Apoe, KUOW,