Music runs deep in the Davisson Brothers’ blood. Long before they were touring the country, making records, and winning fans, brothers Chris and Donnie were joining their father onstage as Ed Davisson and Sons. “It was kind of like homeschooling. We were homeschooled in the music business,” Chris says.
Ed Davisson was a professional musician since he graduated high school, and still plays more than 200 shows a year with his blues–rock band. Their uncle Pete plays music, too, though his tastes run more toward country and folk. He lives on the family farm, located on a piece of the 400-acre plot their great-greatgrandfather Daniel D. Davisson was granted following the Revolutionary War. After working in the hayfields all day, he and his nephews would often hang out in the barn and write music together.
The legacy goes back even further. Both of Ed’s and Pete’s parents were musicians. Although his grandfather had a “regular job,” Chris says, he was an accomplished jazz guitar player in his free time. And his wife, Chris’s grandmother, was a pianist who liked to play hymns and popular music of the day. But even before that, Davissons were known for their musical prowess. Back then, they were mostly fiddle players. “One of our family members was hired by the B&O railroad to help workers work faster,” Chris says. The family has largely given up on fiddling by now. Chris says only one distant cousin, Denny Davisson, still saws the strings. But the musical genes are still going strong. “Every single male in my family is out performing with their own show,” Chris says.
The Davisson Brothers are certainly doing their part to keep the family tradition alive. The band recently released a new single, “PO’ Boyz,” which is climbing the charts in Australia. They hope to release the single stateside, along with an accompanying music video and a whole new album, later this year.
“We’re thankful. I couldn’t imagine doing something else for a living,” Chris says. — ZH
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