Kyle Davis is a contemporary singer/songwriter who blends conventional confessional singer/songwriter styles with a strong melodic sense and a penchant for narratives and clever lyrics.
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