[2] Knowles drew his musical influences from blues musicians that he grew up listening to such as Rory Gallagher, Dire Straits, Peter Green, and Cream.

[3] Due to his home country's proximity to Ireland, Knowles has stated that his music also is influenced by the Celtic genre, which is noted to be present in the song "Roll Away".

[7] As Knowles grew older, he was influenced by other artists like Dire Straits that he found in his father's music collection such as Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, and Robert Johnson.

[8] Knowles attended Castle Rushen High School in Castletown, Isle of Man, where he met future bandmates Brian Garvey, Ross Doyle, Adam Jones, and Jamie Armstrong.

[10] Shortly after, Armstrong quit the band to attend college in England, so Knowles brought in bassist and high school friend Adam Jones to replace him.

[13] In 2008, after their first album released and was at number 7 on the Blues Billboard Chart, Knowles and Back Door Slam gained exposure at the South by Southwest Festival, Coachella, and Lollapalooza.

[14] "After much thought and soul searching, we have reached the painful decision that we should part ways at this time," said Knowles in a statement on the band's website.

His new backing band contained Fritz Lewak at drums, Kevin McCormick at bass, and Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers at keyboards.

The acoustic song segment is taken from Season 3 of the BETA Records Music television series, directed by Eric MacIver and produced by Chris Honetschlaege.

[17] He was touring as Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, with PK (bass), Steven Barci (drums) and Ty Bailie (keys).

In June 2009, Chickenfoot guitarist Joe Satriani described Knowles as his "new favourite modern-day bluesman" in a Playlist article in The Sunday Times.

Knowles continued to tour in support of the new album before turning his attention to documenting his musical influences in the documentary Island Bound,[18] which was released as part of the Isle of Man Film Festival in 2014.

[22] His latest studio album, entitled What Happens Next, was announced alongside the lead single "Light Of The Moon" on 29 July 2021, with the record released on 22 October.

[3] Because he was brought up in the Isle of Man, Knowles has publicly stated that, he draws a great deal of influence from the Celtic genre of music, particularly from the Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher.

[25] Knowles's other electric guitars are the Stevie Ray Vaughan Model Fender Stratocaster and Rio Grande brand pickups.

In addition to this, Knowles occasionally plays a 1944 Martin brand mandolin and a Dallas Arbiter electric Fuzz Face in some of his songs.