Bio

Dollar Bills, circa 1980 (L-R: me!, Greg Forbes, Dutch Mason at the Saturday Matinee show)

I started playing harmonica in 1975 when I was living in Kingston, ON where I was born. First gig was playing at Dollar Bill's lounge in the Prince George Hotel. We had the Saturday matinee. In those days they had all the great bands (Fabulous T-Birds, Dutch Mason, Sonny and Brownie, you name them, they were there) coming through and we got a few of them up on stage with us during the Saturday matinee. The picture shows one of those occasions - this one with Dutch Mason. That's me on the left and Greg Forbes on guitar with Jamie Campbell on keys.

In 1981 I moved to Toronto and didn't play out much but spent more time learning how to play guitar as well as perfecting my harmonica playing. For five years I played with the Grayceful Daddies, a six piece band; and more recently started a new project - Up the Line - a blues duo with Reeves Miller. We were finalists in the Toronto Blues Society Talent Search for 2007.

I currently play guitar and rack harmonica mostly.

In the last couple of years, I've studied harmonica with Mark Stafford and Carlos del Junco and Joe Filisko. I've also taken guitar classes with John Cephas (1930 - 2009) at Augusta Heritage Blues Week. For six months in 2008, I took weekly lessons from the great Mose Scarlett. Last but not least, ongoing lessons with talented guitarist Pete Schmidt.

Until September, 2008 I played in a duo with Reeves Miller. We called ourselves Up the Line.

Up the Line - acoustic blues duo with Reeves Miller. Finalist in the Toronto Blues Society New Talent Search for 2007!

Robert Davis and Reeves Medaglia-Miller have joined forces to create a bluesy acoustic duo that will have you shouting for more. From Minnie the Moocher to Got My Mojo Workin' these two veteran musicians play blues music in its many forms: country blues, Chicago electric sounds; jazzy and big band tunes.

Both of them play the guitar but usually Reeves is holding down the rhythm section with his superb bass playing and time-keeping with the ingenious use of the kick snare drum. Robert usually plays guitar and accompanies on harmonica in a cool rack that gives him a wide range of sounds to fill out the songs. Expect to hear a horn section where none is seen!

Gear

Amps: 1)NEW! HargGear HG 35 watt amp. Harpgear 2. '62 Premier 120. See Premier catalogue from 1962. (PDF)

Effects: Boss Delay

Mics: 1) JT 30 shell with Shure CM cartridge, 2) EV RE10 3) Also a Realistic PZM mic for foot stomp kick when I play in the duo.

Harmonicas: Hohner Golden Melodies for amped and Special 20's for rack playing. Cool Kent WC-17 Chromatic pickup.

Guitars: 1) Larrivee LV3, National VS Resonator and Godin Kingpin

Tools: 1)My simple homemade bench 2) Some tools