Dominic John Davis

Dominic started his career as the bassist for Michigan roots music pioneers Steppin' In It.  Amid the bustling Michigan folk scene Davis starting backing folk singer songwriters Seth Bernard, May Erlewine and others in local The Earthwork Music Collective.  From there he branched out working with Jeff Daniels, Rachael Davis and Greg Brown playing and touring on a national level.  He soon became a sought after bassist by many Singer/Songwriters and played on a staggering number of records.

In 2006, Davis was asked by fellow Michigander and old friend Jack White to play on Bob Dylan's "Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams" project.  It was one of first times White was assembling a band for a solo endeavor of his own and lead to Dominic working on many other projects working with Third Man Records

2009 brought The opportunity to record and tour with Rockabilly Legend Wanda Jackson with Jack White in the producers chair.  Davis joined Jackson & White for a short tour on both coasts, with promotional stops at The Grand Ole Opry, The David Letterman Show & an appearance on Late Night with Conan Obrien.

When White assembled a band to back him for his first solo tour, he asked Dominic to be band leader for his backing band The Buzzards.  A world tour brought them too all ends of the globe headlining festivals and playing for Saturday Night Live, Conan, Austin City Limits, BBC Radio and Jools Holland.

Third Man Records hosted a live concert taping for a CMT Crossroads Special "Willie Nelson Live At Third Man Records."  Dominic served as musical director for the evening and the result was a stellar celebration of Willie's 80th Birthday featuring special guests Norah Jones, Jamey Johnson, Neil Young, & Leon Russel.  The subsequent live record, produced by Davis, was captured completely analog.

Dominic played on most every session for ABC's Nashville seasons 2-5 working closely with producer and Americana mainstay Buddy Miller.  Miller would also ask Davis to join him in the house band for The 2015 Americana Music Awards backing John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Rhianon Giddens, Lee Ann Womack, Robert Randolph with The Fairfield Four and McCrary Sisters, Lucinda Williams, Don Henley, Keb Mo & Los Lobos.   

Inbetween touring and session Dominic was asked to be part of the house band for American Epic.  This documentary was created through a collaboration between the BBC & PBS and was Produced by T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford & Jack White.  Using 1920's technology, Davis backed a number of greats including Taj Mahal, Rhiannon Giddens, Jack White, Edie Brickell, Steve Martin, Raphael Saadiq, Nas, Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard.

Having played on Jack White's second solo record, Davis was again asked to join him on tour.  Both the Lazaretto tour and record toed the line between classic Americana Folk/Roots and modern Rock/Blues inserting Davis' upright bass playing into the Modern Realm where you might least expect it.  Headling shows and festivals around the world, they were joined by a number of special guests including Q-Tip, Conan O'Brien, John C Reilly & Robert Plant.

After relocating to Nashville in 2012, Davis began making his rounds in the Nashville Studio Scene.  A musical chameleon, Dominic feels quite at home in a number of genres playing on records with Drake Bell, Will Hoge, The Milk Carton Kids, Steven Tyler, Michael Kiwanuka, Colin Linden, Luther Dickinson, Josie Dunne, The North Mississippi Allstars, Brian Setzer, Tom Jones, Jim Lauderdale, Dwight Yoakam & Beyonce.

Davis was once again asked to tour with Jack White for his 2018 Boarding House Reach World Tour.  This left of center record is perhaps Jack's most musically ambitious & the band features Carla Azar on drums and both Neal Evans and Quincy McCrary on keyboards.  

When he's not on tour, Davis has been focused on working in the studio as both a producer and studio musician.  Aside from doing production with national artists like Greensky Bluegrass, Willie Nelson & Neil Young, he works with indie artists such as Jen Sygit & Gregory Stovetop.  He also produced his own artist sample pack of baselines for Splice, the world's largest sample library, allowing musicians and bedroom producers to work with him in today's modern studio workflow.

After working a variety of projects during COVID lockdown including a duo of new Jack White records, Dominic was asked to join Daru Jones, Quincy McCrary and Jack for his Supply Chain Issues Tour.