It was 1983 and Davis was playing country western music in an (informally) all-white lounge. He was the only black musician in the place and when his set was over, a man approached him. He came up to me and said he liked my piano playing, says Davis, then he told me this was the first time he heard a black man play as well as Jerry Lee Lewis. Davis, somewhat amused, explained to the man: Jerry Lee learned to play from black blues and boogie woogie piano players and hes a friend of mine. He told me himself where he learned to play. At first, Davis says, the man was skeptical that Jerry Lee Lewis had been schooled by black musicians, but Davis went on to explain in more detail. He was fascinated, says Davis, but he didnt believe me. Then, he told me he was a Klansman.
Most people in this day and age probably would have turned and ran right out of that good ol boys bar, but not Davis. He stayed and talked with the Klansman for a long time. At first, I thought why the hell am I sitting with him? but we struck up a friendship and it was music that brought us together, he says.
That friendship would lead Davis on a path almost unimaginable to most folks. Today, Davis is not only a musician, he is a person who befriends KKK members and, as a result, collects the robes and hoods of Klansmen who choose to leave the organization because of their friendship with him.
