Nine years ago, nationally acclaimed storyteller Donald Davis switched things around on his busy schedule so he could be a part of the Brundidge Historical Society’s efforts to bring professional storytelling to Pike County.

Davis has been a featured teller at every Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival since. He is the heart and soul of the festival were the audiences experience the warmth of a homespun story and know the goodness of a true tale.

Troy radio personality Doc Kirby, a devoted fan, said Davis is actually better than a fine wine because his stories can be absorbed and savored for a lifetime.

“To be able to see and hear a storyteller of Donald Davis’ reputation here at home is an incredible opportunity,” Kirby said. “He’s fantastic on his CDs, but he is even better in person. His facial expressions and his body language bring the stories to life.”

Kirby said what he enjoys so much about Donald Davis is that he tells stories of simpler times – pre-Mayberry times even.

“But his stories have a universal quality,” Kirby said. “You can relate to them. Maybe something similar happened to you, or he tells a story that reminds you of someone in your life.

“Donald Davis’ stories are really funny, but they are more than funny. His stories will touch your heart. Donald Davis is an amazing storyteller. There’s not another one like him.”

It was Davis’ Uncle Frank who “talked in stories,” that helped Davis capture the real and daily adventures of life…and gave him the creative courage to tell about them.

“I discovered that in a story I could safely dream any dream, hope any hope, go anywhere I pleased, fight any foe, win or lose, live or die,” Davis said.  “My stories created a safe experimental learning place. I didn’t learn stories. I absorbed them.”

For Davis, storytelling is a way of giving and living life.

“Storytelling is not what I do for a living; it is how I do all that I do while I am living,” he said.

The Wilson Library Bulletin said that Davis’ stories are “absolutely hilarious and unpredictable, as well as emotionally reviving.”

He invites each listener to come along, to pull deep inside for one’s own stories, to personally share and co-create the common experiences that celebrate the creative spirit.

Kirby said that over the years he has enjoyed every storyteller who performed at the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival and he expects this year’s lineup of Davis, Barbara McBride-Smith, Josh Goforth and Tim Lowry will be just as outstanding.

Lawrence Bowden, BHS president said it might be misleading to say the storytellers get better each year because the list of tellers who have performed at the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival reads like a who’s who among storytellers.

“The storytellers are always fantastic but the audience is more passionate about storytelling,” Bowden said. “They laugh and they cry and display a genuine appreciation for and love of the art of storytelling, and that just makes for an even better storytelling festival.”

All four tellers will be on stage at each concert and will tell different stories.

Tickets are available for the 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. storytelling concerts at the Trojan Center Theater Saturday at The Messenger in Troy or by calling 685-5524 or 372-1001.