As a child, Davis was born and raised in
Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His father, Edward Samuel Davis (1874–1952) was a barber. Davis played snare drum in a community marching band in
Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His father played bass horn.[3] Davis went on to study music at
Northeastern State University in
Tahlequah, Oklahoma (his photo is in the university's 1935 yearbook). During college, Davis also led his own dance band.
Northeastern's music faculty included Henri S. Minsky (1908–1980), a violinist who was director of bands.
Around 1936, Davis began playing drums with the Wally Stoefler Orchestra,[4] and stayed with the group until about 1940. Stoefler's press releases often singled out Davis as "that famous Oklahoma drummer."[5] At some point in his career, he then taught high school music and band.
Davis moved to Mississippi in 1942. In the latter 1950s, he wrote a number of political songs, but, was mostly composer and arranger for hire, as was advertised in a brochure published around 1960:
Houston Davis: successful composer of political songs, jingles, parodies.
Davis wrote campaign songs for Mississippi Governors
Ross Barnett and
Paul Johnson. He composed "
Go, Mississippi", which, in 1962, became the official state song for Mississippi. He also composed country songs, such as "I'm Broke", "Girls Don't Wear Dresses Anymore", and "Crop Duster".
Davis ran as an
independent for mayor of Jackson,[7] losing to Russell Carlos Davis (1922–1993), a
Democrat, in the June 5, 1973, general election. Russell Davis was mayor of Jackson from 1969 to 1977.
July 15, 1933: Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Davis received recognition for having held a drum roll in 1938 for 6 hours, 30 minutes, 20 seconds. The former record had been set by a member of
Sousa's band.
Tom L. Spengler, Jr., in 1957, was manager of Godwin Adv. Agency, Jackson, Mississippi
Sammy Graham led a band in Mississippi
Diamond Record Co., Inc., was an affiliate of
Trumpet Records. Diamond was formed as Diamond Record Co., Inc., in 1950 when a white woman named
Lillian McMurry and her husband Willard purchased a hardware store on Farish Street in Jackson, MS., then a location on the boundary between the city's white and black business and entertainment districts.
Elmore James,
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Little Milton, and James Waller — all of these musical powerhouses furthered their recording careers at a little record company-label on once-thriving Farish Street, the historic black district of
Jackson, Mississippi. These blues, gospel, and R&B all-stars are featured in
Trumpet Records-Diamonds.
Disambiguation
Not to be confused with the New York company, Diamond Records, owned in 1947 by Irving Gwirtz.
Not to be confused with the New York company,
Diamond Records, founded in 1961 by former
Roulette Records executive Joe Kolsky.
Selected discography
Delta Recording Corp. recorded the original version of "
Go, Mississippi" at its studio in
Jackson, Mississippi, at 1653 Raymond Road. The label, which had an office in
New York City in the early 1950s at 236 West 55th Street (
Midtown Manhattan), was founded by Jim Bulleit (né James Albert Bulleit; 1908–1988) and Jimmie Ammons (né James Douglas Ammons; 1919–2001).[8][9] Ammons's main occupation was that of a machinist in
Jackson, Mississippi. Delta was noted for its custom recording work, which included recording weddings, church choirs, and college choirs. Delta also produced recordings for the foreign language department of
Ole Miss. Delta also produced many
jingles for numerous radio stations. Delta recorded radio stations all over
Mississippi for
ASCAP. When Mississippi was searching for a state song, Delta Recording Studio reportedly recorded all the state university bands in search of the song that would truly be representative of the state.[10][11][12]
† The copyright for "Little Carrol's Last Stand" was previously registered as "
The Battle of New Orleans." "Little Carrol's Last Stand" was a political campaign attack song by commissioned by
Ross Barnett against
Lieutenant Governor Carroll Gartin in 1959. Barnett defeated Gartin to become Governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964.
₳ The Maurice Thompson Singers were a small vocal ensemble from
Jackson, Mississippi, founded and conducted by S. Maurice Thompson (1903–1973). Thompson, a radio broadcast pioneer, had moved to Jackson in 1935 to be an announcer at
WJDX. In the 1960s, he was the station manager for
WLBT.
^"1959 Campaign Songs: Governor Ross R. Barnett Campaign," (45 rpm records), Wm. Clyde Stewart Collection 1959–2007,Ole Miss Special Collections
OCLC875933309