# The two groups of women and men: Jazz and Blues. The Burney Sisters and Fred Davis – Cleveland Blues: Videos, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/01/30/the-two-groups-of-women-and-men-jazz-and-blues-the-burney-sisters-and-fred-davis-cleveland-blues-videos-photos/
- Published: 2023-01-30T00:02:18+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The Cayamo Cruise, an Americana music festival at sea, is a pretty big deal. One
of the events produced by music cruise specialists Sixthman, this year’s sailing
marks the 15^(th) edition of the event and will take place aboard the Norwegian 
Cruise Line ship Pearl Feb. 10-17, 2023 as she sails from Miami to the Caribbean
destinations of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and St. Maarten. **

Aboard will be a stellar group of performers including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,
Jeff Tweedy, Patty Griffin, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, Trampled by Turtles, Shovels&
Rope, Adia Victoria and dozens of others. Taking part in Cayamo this year for the
first time ever will be the Burney Sisters: Olivia, Emma and Bella, an up-and-coming
trio of actual sisters from Columbia, Missouri.

The Burney Sisters earned a spot on Cayamo by being one of three winners of the 
Cayamo Soundcheck competition. The young ladies (Bella is not yet a teen) were well
set going into the contest, being veterans of festivals like Twangfest, Moccasin
Creek, and their annual hometown blowout Roots N Blues – and having otherwise shared
stages with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, and the Avett Brothers to 
name a few.

All three girls sing, and their songs are harmony-filled, backed by guitar from 
Olivia; guitar, bass, fiddle, cello, keyboards, banjo and you-name-it from Emma;
and bass from Bella. The Burney Sisters have a very full sound in concert and on
their recordings.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/0-1-
2.jpeg?resize=640%2C640&ssl=1)

**Fred Davis was a legend, but only in my living room. My Dad told me about him.
He could play like T-Bone Walker and sang in a high, keen voice like J.B. Lenoir.**

In the summer of 1969, while the Cuyahoga river fire burned, he worked alongside
my Dad at Harco, the Cleveland factory where my grandfather was an executive. They
became friends, bonding over the Bobby Bland records blaring from the AM radio on
the factory floor.

Fred taught my Dad the rudiments of blues guitar, but his style. Fred could play
up and down the neck and, even when he played and sang just by himself, he sounded
like a full band. Or, at least, so the legend went. These were only foggy memories
from thirty years previous, passed down from a father to a son.

But then we found the tape, a quarter inch reel in a plain white cardboard box. 
Recordings of Fred that my Dad had made in my grandparents living room more than
50 years ago. The idea was that maybe if there were some recordings of Fred that
he could use them to get booked on the nascent college blues-revival circuit, but
it wasn’t to be.

My Dad went on to college in Boston and Fred stayed in Cleveland, fronting his own
band ‘Dave & The Blues Express’ until he met a tragic end: Shot and killed during
a stickup at liquor store. If it weren’t for the tape, Fred ‘Dave’ Davis might be
forgotten, but with its release, the legend can finally go behind the confines of
my living room and, with any luck, to the whole world.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-
Shot-2023-01-26-at-11.43.07-AM.png?w=640&ssl=1)

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