In the late 1950s during her marriage to DePew, Davis suffered from depression and "harbored a death wish" over the grief of Betty Jack's death as well as her "contrived" marriage. She resumed performing as a solo act, touring with Ernest Tubb, and co-wrote and recorded the song "Set Him Free" for RCA, produced by Chet Atkins. The song earned Davis a Grammy Award nomination for best country recording. Sometime during this period, 1958, Davis and DePew were divorced, and she relocated to Nashville. The same year, Davis recorded "Lost to a Geisha Girl", an answer song to Hank Locklin's hit "Geisha Girl", which reached the country number 15 and became her first solo hit. Atkins worked with Davis as a guitarist on all of these sessions. At Davis's suggestion, Atkins frequently multiple-tracked Davis's voice for harmony vocals to resemble the sound of the Davis Sisters. This echo can be found on several of her early solo hits, such as "Am I That Easy to Forget."