At over 100 years of age, Jimmy Davis may not have done it all, but he’s sure come close. Not many can claim to have been a prolific songwriter and performer, Hollywood movie actor and the Governor of Louisiana. Davis can, and he did it all at the same time!

From the dirtiest of blues to his foray into sacred gospel, Davis has had a musical career with very much the same duality as many early bluesmen. Certainly a man worthy of biographical study, the book is finally out, but the movie was made in 1946. It was called Louisiana and starred Jimmy as himself, in some semblance of his life story thus far. The film’s music, of which we now speak, is noteworthy as the first country & western soundtrack, but more importantly caught Davis and his band, the Sunshine Serenaders at the highlight of their Western Swing attack. Never released to the general public, this is just one of the many recently discovered transcriptions originally meant for radio play that Bloodshot/ Revival records has been putting out.

The 12 cuts here stand out as superb examples of Western Swing and immediately demand the question: Who was this band? The otherwise informative liner notes don’t give a clue as to who the players are here. It’s a crying shame because they simply rank with the best of the genre. In particular, the guitarist is really laying it down in a wild, bluesy style that just jumps from the speakers, creating sounds with the most primitive of amplifiers that no bevy of pedals or effects could ever hope to compete with.

The songs range from a haunting take of Jimmy’s smash hit, “You Are My Sunshine” and the sentimental “There’s A New Moon Over My Shoulder” to the classic “It Makes No Difference Now.” Not content to leave the red hot controversial blues of his early years out of his repertoire, Davis turns in a ribald “Bang Bang” (featuring the line “Bang bang bang away my Lou Lou, bang away good and strong!!)”

Of all the accomplishments of his life, Davis was a true country & western pioneer, from a state that seems to have overlooked its strong country heritage. This collection provides an excellent opportunity to reconsider both. Yet the question remains. Who was the band?