Doug,

As you point out, there is nothing that can definitively disprove Davis' claim, but the reason for the absence of any 'gigantic law suit' may be that Paul Rice was the composer, he sold his rights to Davis-Mitchell and, subsequently, Mitchell sold his half-share to Davis. You may be interested in the following excerpt from a letter to Russell from Davis in 1986 which Russell quotes:

I recorded some [songs] that were not released for him [ie W.K. Henderson, owner of KWKH] about 1930 or '31, somewhere in there, 'Nobody's Darlin'' and 'Sunshine' were so terrible with the band they furnished me up there that I knew that my rendition of these two numbers that I had earlier recorded if they were released I would never get a contract with anybody so years later I recorded both of these after carrying them around for years. [Quoted in Tony Russell's booklet for Bear Family box set Governor Jimmie Davis 'You Are My Sunshine' BCD 16216 E1]

Russell goes on to state: 'On other occasions Davis has appeared to locate pre-1940 recordings of "You Are My Sunshine" to his 1928 Columbia session, to a vaguely described Victor session in the early 1930s and to a Decca session about a year before the known recording. His discography provides no evidence to suport any of these claims'.

Your recollection about hearing Davis sing the song on the Grand Ole Opry before 1940 may be faulty. In his book, 'A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry' Country Music Foundation Press 1999, Dr Charles Wolfe has an appendix 2 entitled 'The Opry Roster, 1925-1940'. This lists all artists who appeared even once between those years and Davis' name does not appear at all.

The key point seems to be the transaction for $35 between Paul Rice and Davis-Mitchell and, according to Russell's account, this seems to be pretty clear on the evidence available.

--Stewie.