[youtube width=”500″ height=”306″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7Yg_1uvBY[/youtube]

Blake Davis spends most of the workday jamming out with his 18-month-old son, Brooks. “If I play something, and my kids are dancing to it, I know it’s good,” Davis says. “Children are the most honest people on the planet.”

The stay-at-home dad pursues music full-time, and will record his first album this month with local producer Shannon Barrett. With influences like Neil Young and Willie Mason, Davis’s music spans alt-country and folk-rock genres, focusing on positive themes. “It’s a lot easier to write about something that’s depressing. It’s just human nature to focus on the negative things.”

Davis grew up in Tulsa, Okla., and later studied at Dallas Sound Lab. After playing in several bands that have broken up over the years, he decided to go solo. “When you’re in a band, you have to make everyone happy. Now that I’m solo, it’s so much freer.”

He thinks of his songs as a soundtrack to his life, something he can leave behind for Brooks and his 4-year-old daughter Layla, who attends Preston Hollow Elementary. “All my music comes from a single memory, ranging all the way back to high school,” Davis says.

His wife Angela, an active member of the Preston Hollow PTA, works in advertising, providing a way for him to pursue his music without struggling to make ends meet. “My wife has been the bread earner,” he says. “Behind every successful musician, there’s a strong, dependable woman. She’s definitely been that for me.”

After seeing one of his live shows or listening online, you’ll notice his stage name, Davis Blake. “There’s another guy named Blake Davis, and I didn’t like his stuff,” he says, laughing, and simply switching his two names was a quick fix.