A native of Hopewell, Virginia, Davis began playing guitar when he was a teenager. During college, he began performing professionally, playing in the Virginia area. After he built a loyal local following, he recorded an album for the local indie label, Cellar Door Records. One of the fans of that record was Don Dixon, who offreed to produce Davis' second album, Waiting for You. Released on the indie Windmark Records, the album sold a startling 10,000 copies in Virginia and its surrounding states, and helped Davis land supporting slots for Bob Dylan, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega and Blues Traveler, among others. Its success led to Davis being named one of the best unsigned artists of 1995 by Billboard magazine.
Shortly after the release of Waiting for You, one of Davis' demo tapes made its way to legendary producer Phil Ramone. At the time, Ramone was launching his own label -- N2K Encoded Music -- and he offered to sign the songwriter. Davis' first album for the label was 1998's Raising Heroes, which was produced by Dixon and executive-produced by Ramone. Dixon aimed for a fuller sound this time around, rounding up a number of professional musicians, including Peter Holsapple and Jim Brock, to support Davis. In fall 2000, Don't Tell the World was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi