Eva Davis
Eva Davis (born Sarah Eva Payne, 1889–1993) was an American old-time banjoist and vocalist from western North Carolina who made history alongside fiddler Samantha Bumgarner as the first women to record commercial country and Appalachian string music. During their landmark Columbia Records session in New York City on April 22, 1924, Davis provided banjo backing on traditional dance numbers like "Cindy in the Meadows" and recorded two solo banjo-vocal performances, "John Hardy" and "Wild Bill Jones," which stand as the earliest commercial recordings of the five-string banjo.
In the newsletter
- No. 19 Spring 1999