A few words about Paul Davies from Roger Digby, PeterT & Stephen Chambers, members of Concertina.net
“Paul was involved in an LP,‘Song of the Chanter’, back in 1976 with Pat Daly and Eithne, Brian and Niall Vallely. He plays flutes (misprinted as ‘flues’ on the sleeve!!), harmonica, and two Anglos - one in old pitch. They play in various combinations and there’s no indication on the sleeve when it is Paul playing flute and when it is Brian Vallely. I think he plays two tracks on Anglo and at least one on harmonica.
He gave me a battered old copy; against one track he has pencilled ‘ex Kilroy, now Digby’ and beside Brian Vallely’s name he has added ‘wooden whistle from Steve Chambers, now Peter Carberry’. I imagine Steve, if he reads this, will be able to add more detail.
Best wishes, Roger Digby”
“As an aside, Paul was a skilled craftsman, who paid for and refurbished his Worthing house from the proceeds of his busking. I went down there to “play with the toys”, as Paul used to say. When he knew that I worked for Nestlé (1974-2003), Paul said that he had hung the ceilings in St. George’s House, Croydon, where I was based for most of my time. Paul had two distinct repertoires, his Irish music, and his busking music. When Paul moved up to York, I met up with him when I was down from Scotland (where I was living) and he took me off to an English music session (which I enjoyed), to demonstrate to the other musicians how an Anglo can sound when played in a style different from his.” PeterT.
"I think the truth of the matter is that Paul used both spellings. The LP to which I refer above has ‘Davis’ throughout. It was Paul’s habit to write, even scratch, his name into concertinas that he owned. I’ve just taken the ex-Killroy apart and sure enough it bears ‘Paul Davis’ in red ink on the reed pan and also scratched onto the palm rest. I think he formalised a spelling when he decided he needed business cards and stickers and then opted for the ‘e’. Doubtless at some future time someone will date concertinas by which spelling they bear!
Of course he didn’t always call himself Paul Davi(e)s at all……. "Pedantically yours, Roger Digby
“Yes; I’d forgotten that! He told me that he called himself Mr XXXXXX (my memory’s gone!), and why. I don’t know when, exactly, that Paul died, since I was away from the music scene from 1995 onwards. I presume that he died from a heart attack. I remember Paul telling me that he had suffered two relatively minor attacks which had been very painful. He then told me that the major attack, which “killed him” did not hurt at all. He was obviously resuscitated, and lived for a number of additional years. I first met Paul in 1983; busking in Crawley.” Peter T.
“You have just jogged my memory Peter, that is exactly where I first met him. He played in the gap between Woolworth’s and Littlewood’s in Queens Square.”
“Not forgetting Paul’s precious Rudall & Rose alto flute too! But the harmonica was Paul’s first, and maybe his best instrument, which he learned to play in hospital as a child. He played a Chromatic with the slide pushed in, a technique he got from the late Paddy Bán O’Briain”
“Indeed so, and I remember how he was adamant that his name should be spelled with that ‘e’ for quite a while, before quietly reverting to the previous spelling”
“That’s “Táimse im Choladh”, an air that Paul played a lot on the flute (he was a former Flute - Slow Airs, All Ireland Champion), sometimes at Irish funerals. In fact I got Seamus Tansey to learn the tune and play it at Paul’s funeral - though we played “a good blast of reels” for him, on flute and tambourine, first.”
“He died on 18th January, 2001. Brian and Eithne Vallely came over from Armagh and played pipes and fiddle at his funeral, also Seamus Tansey came and played flute, as well as giving a great eulogy about him and all the wonderful instruments he had put into circulation in Ireland.” Stephen Chambers
) which triggered your enquiry. However, most long C key touches will have cork covering that location, so it’s going to be hard to be sure without starting to take the cork buffers off!