Hubert Davis and The Season Travelers
Bands / Ensembles
Hubert Davis and The Season Travelers was a bluegrass band from Nashville, Tennessee, led by banjo player and emcee Hubert Davis and his wife, Rubye Davis, who sang lead and played guitar. Hubert was born in Shelby, North Carolina, in 1932, and grew up near Earl Scruggs. In 1953, playing with Jim Eanes's Shenandoah Valley Boys, he recorded "Plunkin' Rag," the first recorded instance of a banjo player other than Scruggs to use Scruggs tuning pegs in a composition. Hubert also briefly played with Bill Monroe around 1954. Hubert and Rubye’s' daughter, Shelby Jean was born shortly after in 1956 and would later join the Season Travelers on bass in 1968. Rubye sang lead, Shelby Jean sang tenor, and Hubert or Dobro player Gene Bush sang baritone. The family ran the Bluegrass Inn in Nashville, which the band used as its home stage while also performing at the Wind in the Willows. In 1990 the Davises moved the Bluegrass Inn to downtown Nashville after losing their lease. Hubert died in 1992. Rubye kept the band going with other banjo players and Shelby Jean took over as emcee but the band retired soon after. The Bluegrass Inn became “Layla’s Bluegrass Inn” and is still in operation though generally known as a traditional honky tonk called simply “Layla’s.”