Gary Davis started playing the banjo at age 10, but he never expected he would become a national champion banjo picker and be performing with Dolly Parton and other famous stars.
Gary, who grew up in Red Bank, said a man who worked with his father, Alvin Davis, came to his house one night and showed him the right-hand technique. His dad, who worked at Combustion, afterwards began driving him 25 minutes away for regular practice.
What really got Gary going is when his father took him to a jam session at a local Masonic Lodge. He said his father went to the session once a month by himself, and he asked once if he could go along. He said several top-notch banjo players were at the jam and it was quite a show. He decided he wanted to learn to play just like them.
When Gary started showing promise, father and son traveled all over the country to fiddle contests and banjo festivals.
He got so good that three times he was crowned national banjo champion. Another year he was second. He won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in 1979, 1988 and 1996.
After graduating from Red Bank High School, he stayed around Chattanooga and played a number of local clubs. He recalls playing with Dalton Roberts, Al Harvey, Terry Brewer and other local musicians. His main gig was with Bill McCallie and the Bluegrass Express.
As a boy, Gary was painfully shy, but the music helped bring him out. He said by the time he was 23 "they couldn't shut me up."
By the time, he was 27, Gary was good enough to move to the Pigeon Forge area and make music his fulltime vocation. He joined the Smith Brothers and they were the ones who gave him his nickname. He said they had a guitar player named "Cornbread," so he could be "Biscuit."
Now he is a regular at the Dixie Stampede and often backs up Ms. Parton. He has been her bandleader since 2002, and was co-producer of her bluegrass album, Halos & Horns. He has been recording since 1973, when he did an album, Playing On The Moon, with a band that he formed with Bob Thiele Jr.
Gary currently has 20 banjo students, and he travels around the country giving workshops.
Gary "Biscuit" Davis is married to Jenny, and they have a three-year-old son, Conner.