Washita Love Child, Douglas K. Miller
Washita Love Child, Douglas K. Miller
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Washita Love Child
The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis

Author: Douglas K. Miller, Joy Harjo

Narrator: Kaipo Schwab

Unabridged: 14 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/24/2024


Synopsis

No one played like Jesse Ed Davis. One of the most sought-after guitarists of the late 1960s and '70s, Davis appeared alongside the era's greatest stars—John Lennon and Mick Jagger, B. B. King and Bob Dylan—and contributed to dozens of major releases, including numerous top-ten albums and singles, and records by artists as distinct as Johnny Cash, Taj Mahal, and Cher.

But Davis, whose name has nearly disappeared from the annals of rock and roll history, was more than just the most versatile session guitarist of the decade. A multitalented musician who paired bright flourishes with soulful melodies, Davis transformed our idea of what rock music could be and, crucially, who could make it. At a time when few other Indigenous artists appeared on concert stages, radio waves, or record store walls, in a century often depicted as a period of decline for Native Americans, Davis and his Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Seminole, and Mvskoke relatives demonstrated new possibilities for Native people.

Weaving together more than a hundred interviews with Davis's bandmates, family members, friends, and peers, this book powerfully reconstructs Davis's extraordinary life and career. Washita Love Child thoroughly and finally restores the "red dirt boogie brother" to his rightful place in rock history, cementing his legacy for generations to come.

Reviews

Goodreads review by *TUDOR^QUEEN* on September 27, 2024

I've been aware of the American Indian guitarist Jesse Ed Davis for decades sort of as a background figure to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as I knew that he was one of the fluid members of their Plastic Ono Band project. So when I saw such a unicorn- a biography written about this elusive musical figur......more

Goodreads review by Kerry on September 16, 2024

I knew about Jesse Ed Davis’s impact on the music industry before reading this book, and I was frustrated with the writing style. The author seemed to just repeat superlatives and not provide any insight into Davis’s influence in the Native American community. He was an extremely talented guitarist......more

Goodreads review by Kirstin on January 25, 2025

I was unaware of indigenous musician Jesse Ed Davis, the subject of Douglas Miller’s biography. He was a blues/rock guitarist who played with the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Rod Stewart and Taj Mahal, to name just a few. Unfortunately, like many musicians of the day, he struggled with drug addi......more

Goodreads review by Brenda on November 19, 2024

First aware of Jesse Ed Davis in George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. Readers of the book will learn quite a bit about him. I had not known that was his guitar solo in Jackson Browne’s Doctor My Eyes and totally wowed that it was the first and one time he played it - one take for such a masterp......more

Goodreads review by Steve on January 19, 2025

I wish this book existed when I wrote my master's degree thesis on the song lyrics of Jesse Ed Davis. Miller brings this Native American rock legend and true musicians' musician into the spotlight. Davis played with Beatles, Dylan, Taj Mahal, and inspired Duane Allman to take up slide guitar. Dylan......more