Walter Davis

Walter Davis (March 1, 1911 – October 22, 1963) was an American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter who was one of the most prolific blues recording artists from the early 1930s to the early 1950s. His best-known songs included "Come Back Baby", "Ashes in My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues". Davis was sometimes billed as "Hooker Joe".

Biography Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi. He ran away from home at 13 or 14 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. He started singing with pianist Roosevelt Sykes and guitarist Henry Townsend. Davis made his first recordings, including the successful "M&O Blues", in 1930, as a singer accompanied by Sykes on piano.

A self-taught pianist, Davis increasingly accompanied himself as he became more proficient.

Influenced by Leroy Carr, and with a "mournful vocal tone" a song later recorded by Lowell Fulson, Ray Charles, and many others. Once he was well established as a popular recording artist, he performed regularly in hotels in St. Louis, sometimes with Townsend. His style of music was already becoming unfashionable.

In October 2012, the Killer Blues Headstone Project, a nonprofit organization, placed a headstone on Davis's unmarked grave at Greenwood Cemetery. The stone was unveiled at the 2012 Big Muddy Blues Festival in St. Louis.