Directing Davey Davis, part 1

You might remember an article I wrote about Ben playing at that Riverweed Music Festival in Vermont in 1994, where he and John Kalishes joined Kevin McCarty as the Beacon Hillbillies. Well, one of the people Ben met while he was there was local musician Davey Davis. Sharing a mutual love of the outdoors and fishing, the two became fast friends. After Ben moved to the area, he and Davey spent more time together, and Ben encouraged Davey in his musical pursuits, fooling around with him in the studio and offering advice.

I’ll write more about Ben and Davey in the future, but here’s a fun little peek into the way Ben spent his time in the mid-90s.

One of Davey’s projects was a tune called “West Texas,” written by Eddie Russell. Ben got a real kick out of the song, and was game for creating a video to go with it. Davey had a buddy that was running a little restaurant, called the Seedhouse Café, in the back of the historic 1815 House in Reading, Vermont. The friend suggested they come down to film there in the bar, so Davey, Ben, John Kalishes, and a few other guys headed over and made a night of it.

So check out this video. You can see Ben at the beginning of the footage giving Davey some tips, and positioning the blue pitcher on the bar. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t catch all of the dialogue that took place, but we do get to hear a little smidgen of Ben directing. How cool is that?

Oh, and Davey told me, too, that Ben contributed a little to the lyrics. The original version of the song included the phrase, “smokin’ that dope…” but Ben suggested it be changed to “smokin’ that rope.” Lol

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