Near the end of Skeeter Davis' honest, sometimes unsettling 1993 autobiography, Bus Fare To Kentucky, she concludes that "without the valleys, I could not have enjoyed the mountains." True enough. She'd journeyed through poverty, musical triumphs and stumbles, controversy, three marriages, and traumas capped by sixteen years battling the cancer that ended her life September 19 at age 72.
Mary Frances Penick, born in a two-room cabin near Glencoe, Kentucky, in 1931, was the first of William and Punzie Penick's seven kids. Her grandfather, impressed by her energy, nicknamed her "Skeeter." Around 1947 the Penicks relocated to Covington, Kentucky, where she sang with high school classmate Betty Jack Davis. As the Davis Sisters, they gained momentum working at Detroit's WJR Barnyard Frolics in the early '50s.
Their smart, assertive harmonies impressed RCA's Steve Sholes, who signed them in 1953. That summer, as their "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" headed to #1, a violent car crash left Betty Jack dead and Skeeter injured. Betty's conniving stage mother coerced Skeeter into performing with Betty's sister Georgia through 1956. Skeeter had to marry (briefly) to finally escape Mrs. Davis.
Chet Atkins played guitar on nearly all the Davis Sisters' RCA sessions. By 1958 he ran RCA Nashville; suspecting Skeeter's voice had broader potential, he multitracked her vocals to echo the Davis Sisters sound. Amid such masterpieces as "Am I That Easy To Forget", however, were gimmicky "answer" hits such as "Lost To A Geisha Girl", a response to Hank Locklin's hit "Geisha Girl". She joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1959.
The angst-heavy 1962 ballad "The End Of The World" finally gave her the massive pop/country crossover success Atkins envisioned. A year later, "I Can't Stay Mad At You" did likewise. Though Davis had five singles earning Grammy nominations, Atkins didn't establish a musical consistency, resulting in a surfeit of grossly overproduced material. Her albums ran the gamut from gospel and pop standards to duets with Bobby Bare or Porter Wagoner to Flatt & Scruggs, Buddy Holly and Dolly Parton tributes. She fared better at RCA in the '70s when her ex-guitarist Ronny Light produced her.
Her quirks (a home menagerie complete with pet ocelot) and personal trials earned her media attention. A 1959-64 marriage to egocentric WSM disc jockey Ralph Emery left bitterness that reverberated through their respective autobiographies. The uniquely tolerant, free-spirited Christian fundamentalism she practiced challenged Opry customs. She was among the few to warmly greet the Byrds during their tension-filled 1968 Opry appearance. In a 1973 Opry performance, she chided Nashville police during for arresting street evangelists, earning her a 15-month suspension from the show.
Davis left RCA around 1974 and subsequent records were spotty, with one exception: She Sings, They Play was a clever, stylish 1980s album with NRBQ, whose bassist, Joey Spampinato, she married in 1983. The Opry rift eventually healed. It became her primary performing outlet except for overseas tours, but her woes persisted; her parents' deaths sent her into a tailspin, and 1988 brought her first cancer diagnosis. She and Spampinato divorced in 1996.
Skeeter Davis recorded some memorable music. More importantly, in an industry that rarely embraces -- and often suppresses -- the unconventional, her joyous eccentricity was refreshing in itself.
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