Alun Davies (guitarist) - With Cat Stevens

With Cat Stevens

Davies was first recruited to work with Cat Stevens in early 1970, by Stevens' producer, Paul Samwell-Smith. He was considered a perfect complement to Stevens' new, folk-rock based approach to music, and the combination clicked. Initially hired as a session musician on the album Mona Bone Jakon, Davies' more experienced guitar "finger-work" and backing vocals assisted Stevens to achieve his new sound. He had a hit single from the album with the song "Lady D'Arbanville", a madrigal-sounding song written about Stevens' girlfriend at the time, which ultimately reached #8 on the pop charts in the United Kingdom, and is credited as the first Cat Stevens song to gain attention in the United States. The song and the album laid the groundwork for Stevens' most productive albums to come. Davies had developed a love for the emerging folk-rock sound, as had Stevens. After they completed Mona Bone Jakon, within six weeks' time had already begun to work on Tea for the Tillerman.