| Summary: | J. B. Davis was born near Dothan, Alabama, in 1912, and his father, Joe Davis, was also a fiddler. From 1939 to 1978, he lived in Chicago, where he was a repairman for Kay Instruments (and subsequent companies that bought out Kay). After World War II, he also played in night clubs as a fiddler with Jimmy Davis and the Moonlighters, a country band.
The recordings included here were made by Joyce Cauthen as part of fieldwork for "Possum up a Gum Stump: Home, Field and Commercial Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers," an LP album produced by Brierfield Ironworks Park Foundation with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. While he played traditional fiddle tunes during the session, the pieces at the end of the tape demonstrate that he also excelled at more modern swing pieces.
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