Little Sammy Davis (November 28, 1928 – February 16, 2018) was an American blues musician based in New York's Hudson Valley. His music career began in the 1940s, but he was not widely known until the mid-1990s, when he began working in radio, singing, performing on tour, and recording studio albums.
Born in Winona, Mississippi, 40 kilometers east of Greenwood, he was introduced to music by his grandmother and learned the harmonica at the age of 8. He then moved to Florida, where he performed in the Miami area, where he also worked in orchards and sawmills. He took part in travelling shows and joined a group that also included Pinetop Perkins, Albert King and Earl Hooker.
He then recorded his first sides in Miami with Earl Hooker, in April 1953 for the Rockin' label and played harmonica on Sweet angel (Original sweet black angel), a famous Robert Nighthawk cover thanks to which Hooker established himself as a master of slide. He also recorded six sides (one of which remains unreleased) under the name Little Sam Davis, again with Hooker on guitar. In July of the same year, this time in Memphis for the Sun brand, some specialists claim that he played harmonica with Pinetop Perkins and Earl Hooker on (Talkin') Off the wall and a cut take of Off the wall, but according to others it probably was Walter Horton or Joe Hill Louis... He also visited Chicago, in the late 50’s where he rubbed shoulders with Little Walter, Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters. In any case, these beginnings were not enough to really launch his recording career.
After almost two decades, he reappeared in 1971. Married and now a resident of Poughkeepsie, New York, he called himself Harmonica Sammy Davis and produced a few tracks for Trix, then a few more the following year, with Eddie Kirkland as leader. After the sudden death of his wife in 1972/73, Davis stopped playing and dropped out of the music scene for the next two decades, despite the efforts of Little Eliot Lloyd, Lowry, and others to persuade him to play.
But in the early 1990s, he was performing locally and caught the attention of a radio host, Doug Price, and two musicians, drummer Brad Scribner known as Midnight Slim, and his brother Fred, a guitarist, songwriter and producer. Thanks to them, Davis appeared on radio shows and toured beyond the region, and in 1995 he released the album "I Ain't Lyin'" on Delmark, nominated for the Blues Awards and awarded the Comeback Artist of the Year Award by Living Blues magazine.
Davis resided in a nursing home rehab unit in Middletown, New York. He died in Middletown on February 16, 2018, at the age of 89.
(Edited from Wikipedia & Soul Bag bio by Daniel Léon)