Daily Inspiration: Meet Carson Davis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carson Davis.

Hi Carson, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Well, I’m not exactly sure what Hank told ya about me, but I’m a jack of all trades. Would I say I’m a master of none? I’ll never know. But ultimately, I’m an artist. I am endlessly aspiring and refining the intention to, in the words of the explorer Wade Davis, “make my vocation the art of living.”

We could say this journey of art started in my teens. I grew up in a passionately devout Christian home, and I was drawn to music. So what made sense for me was to do church music. When I was 20 I moved to Tampa, Florida to help start a church and be a part of the music team. I stayed there for four years leading music, leading youth groups, preaching the Gospel in the streets, and traveling to the countries of predominantly black and brown people to “win” them to Christ. All the while my inner moral compass was growing increasingly dissonant with this Evangelical culture.

I was on the path to become an “evangelical crusade director” for this organization, I came home to raise money, and as I began to tell people about what I was doing and why I was doing it, I knew I did not believe in it. So I quit.

My partner and I moved back to Springfield and I started working at a coffee shop that I had worked at before I left. Pretty quickly they made me manager, and then I partnered with the owner on a new coffee roasting company. For two years my heart was screaming at me that I was too focused on work and needed more time to write music. And finally I walked away from that.

I went back into the trades. I grew up in a construction family. My first time on the job site I was 5 years old, and by 12 years old I was on the payroll. So going to work for myself as a handyman was pretty easy. And it provided me with the flexibility to pursue more art. Yay!

I started my first project, Carley Sunn. I became involved with a huge community of other musicians, photographers, and videographers. We made and did a lot of cool stuff together over the next four years. Early on we had some big “breaks” into the local scene. The “gatekeepers” if you will, loved what we were doing and let us right in. But I lacked confidence. I felt incredibly insecure about being a performer, and making anything public facing, so I attempted to create a meme persona. It worked and was quite fun at times. But the song in my heart was earnest and sincere, and I felt endlessly at odds with myself.
Then, my daughter was born.

My wife kept working and I became a stay at home dad. During that first year I took the opportunity of staying home with an infant to record a full length album. I completed it, and had 300 cassette tapes and a bunch of other merch made with the intention of going on my first tour.

We had the album release show to a great reception. But at the after party, in a swimming pool with my band, friends, and fans, all I could think about was this tiny little person at home.

I kept trying to make Carley Sunn go for a few more months, but my heart was increasingly not in it. And I slowly began to descend into the largest mental health crisis of my life. I won’t belabor this point too much. Redemption arc stories in real life are not as linear as we sometimes would like. But this was one of the more significant turning points in my life.

Shortly after, I shut down Carley Sunn. Killed him dead. I decided I would be just a part time contractor, part time family man.
I was burned out from chasing the dream of being a “successful” artist. And I vowed to never do that again. But there was still a song in my heart that I had yet to sing.

Fast forward a few more years and I find myself playing music in elder care, sometimes in hospice, teaching guitar at the Boys and Girls Club, and I have another full length album just about done (that I will release as Carson B. Davis). I haven’t played many “big” shows in a while. But I tell my friends I’m in the vibe economy. My aim is to help create spaces of community and acceptance. I aim to take off every mask once I realize I’m wearing it. I aim to make music not for them, not for me, but for us.

I don’t know what’s coming next in my career. I don’t know how I’m going to promote this album. I have deleted all of my social media accounts. But that’s part of my art of living. I hope to do a bunch of analog, in person promotion. But we’ll see. I’m still building stuff for folks. Still staying home part time with my daughter. And in love with my partner of 14 years in a way I never knew existed.

Ultimately, however I can best show up for my family, my community, and my world, that’s what I want to do. If we need our homes repaired and maintained, I’m there. If we need my songs, I don’t have to be asked twice. If there is some other thing that I’m the best guy for, I’ll do it. My intention is to live a life devoted to this planet and all of its inhabitants, including myself. God knows there is a lot of hurt out here, and so in whatever capacity I find myself in, may I be kind, and may I be honest. May I be open hearted, open minded, and open handed. May my healing benefit you, and may yours benefit me. My vocation is the art of living.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am influenced a lot by Buddhist thought. Zen master Suzuki Roshi once said Zen could be summed up into two words. “Everything changes.” Sometimes things are smooth, sometimes I do struggle, but ultimately here is always here, now is always now, and my human heart is alive and dynamic. Where I am now is mostly a different perspective than anything material. Will it give me, myself, success? Well I hope to be successful at being present, patient, kind and honest. And it seems to be doing that for me.

But for real though. Getting to this perspective and attitude is sometimes a struggle. A great struggle for me, whether as an artist, or just showing up for life, has been confidence, trauma, and emotional baggage. None of these things are separate from another. Healing this stuff has not been smooth. The very act of healing starts because of struggle. And sometimes healing is simply learning how to be with the pain. But the very act of being with this pain has given me much more confidence. As I have doubted whether I should quit music or not, when I sit with this pain the songs just naturally rise out of my heart. Also what arrises with this pain, is the realization that we all hurt and are doing our best. So even if it is true that my art is not as good as someone else’s, that is no reason to not accept and express the depths of my soul as best as I can. I want everyone to be able to access their buried pain and hidden wounds. Our world needs as many of us who are willing to do this to do this. So if nothing else, I hope my art will serve as inspiration to others to accept and express their own depths.

Whatever smoothness I encounter, may it serve all of us. Whatever struggle I encounter, may it open my heart further, for my sake and others.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well. I am a carpenter. I am a musician. I am a budding gardener. I am a tree hugger and a dirt worshiper. I am partner and a parent. I am a member of my community. All of these things play into each other. But the work I want to talk about most would be music.

On a nuts and bolts level I have tried to pick a niche for years. Where I’m feeling most authentic as of late is as a songwriter sitting behind a keyboard. I was talking to someone recently who asked me if I was doing anything novel in music. I said “no”. I chased gimics and novelty in the Carley Sunn days. I worked tirelessly to come up with a novel sound, which was always based on sound that already existed. I was always drawn though to the way the worship pastor of my teen years played and sang. I could never quite put my finger on what it was. It had some older aesthetic to it that was almost a bit cheesy, or sappy, but it made me feel so good. I have been drawn to more chord structures and rythms of the 70’s and 80’s. But again, none of that is necessarily novel.

Ultimately I try to keep the musical pipeline flowing. I don’t try to keep myself from writing or singing anything simply because it’s “not my niche”. And maybe that’s what sets me apart. I’ll go on stage with just me and my keyboard, and one song I’m singing all soft whilst trying to playing something silky and smooth. And the next I’m pounding the keyboard and screaming at the top of my lungs. One song will be intellectual or deep, and the next will be dumb and on the nose. But with all of this I am trying to say one thing. Open your heart, feel your hurt, take off the mask, it’s ok, we’re all here, doing our best.

As far as what I’m most proud of. Well it might be this next album I’m about to put out. I didn’t spend as much time trying to make it perfect or a big hit. I challenged myself to record a solid performance and move on. I’m viewing it as just merch. The art isn’t about the record, it’s about my whole life, and the record is just another way for me to connect with others. Connection, not perfection. I kept that intention at the forefront through the whole process and that I am proud of.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Oh man. Which one shall I surprise you with?! Ha! I never know what’s going to surprise people. In my contracting work most people are surprised I am sit down at the piano type of guy. When I’m sitting down at the piano singing about my hurting little heart, people might be surprised I build whole privacy fences and decks all by myself. Others might be surprised I was homeschooled K-12 in a family of 8 kids, others are not. Some might be surprised I was a youth pastor for a time, but to others that makes sense. My favorite thing to surprise folks with is that I like to go backpacking and in the wilderness for days at a time alone to talk to the trees and the rocks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carsonbdavis.com
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@carsonbdavis
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/carsonbdavis
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2usJ8W52qXOHrZT94pponz?si=FxV7oixfRX6g1XXx9tQTiA