Lyrics

"Lonesome Whistle"

I was ridin' number nine
Headin' south bound to Carolina
When I heard that lonesome whistle blow...

Biography

In a performing career spanning eight decades of the 20th century, Jimmie Davis embraced both risqué country-blues and later traditional gospel, meanwhile maintaining a concurrent public-service career that saw him twice elected governor of Louisiana. In fact, his greatest musical successes came during his two terms as governor, once in the mid-'40s and again in the early '60s. Born James Houston Davis in Beech Springs, LA, on September 11, 1899 (he would later report it as 1902, then switch back to the earlier date), Davis was the son of a poor sharecropper, but nevertheless he earned a bachelor's degree from Louisiana College Pineville and in 1927 a masters degree from Louisiana State University. The following year, he began teaching history at a small college in Shreveport. Davis began singing occasionally for a local radio station and first recorded in 1928.

Discography