Davina & the Vagabonds

“Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash — a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there.”

Rolling Stone Magazine

"This music, as retro as it may be at times, feels fun, frisky and alive.”

 American Songwriter

“Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass."

 DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

“Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash—a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there.”Rolling Stone Magazine“Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass." DOWNBEATMAGAZINEDavina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scenewith their high-energy live shows, level A musicianship, sharp-dressedprofessionalism, and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. With influences rangingfrom Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and TomWaits, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver toMiami and across Europe.Much likethe music, the story spurns era, expectation, and classification. The oftenunbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowersgave birth to her eponymous band Davina and The Vagabonds in 2004. As the talegoes, she grew up inthe economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA,which she now describes as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for highschool.” She was adopted by her much older stepfather when he was in his 80s; hepassed away when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, shefirst heard The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima, SisterRosetta Tharpe, and many others. “Great man. He was my angel and still is,” shesays.On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player where shereligiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Simon and Garfunkel recordsbelonging to her folk singer mom.To this day, Davina still refers to music as “my first and eternal love.” Despite earlydalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in highschool, which morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in andout of jail, and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she“got clean, started the band, and worked [her] ass off every day since.”Davina and the Vagabonds shine every time they play. To date, they’ve performed inforty-five states, twelve European countries, and two Canadian provinces. Not tomention, they’ve earned feverish acclaim from the Chicago Tribune, NPR, and morein addition to performing on BBC’s international favorite late-night program Later...With Jools Holland and appearing on PBS’s Bluegrass Underground