Biography

Red House Records is announcing the release date for SUGAR DROPS, the first album for the label from Davina and the Vagabonds. The album marks the first time singer/songwriter/pianist Davina Sowers entered a proper studio to record an album. The Minneapolis-based artist holed up in Nashville’s Compass Sound Studio with producer (and Compass Records co-founder) Garry West, her trumpeter, string arranger and husband, Zack Lozier, and a rotating cast of powerhouse players including Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Robbie Fulks) on bass, Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, Tom Jones) on guitar and Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa) on Hammond B3.

SUGAR DROPS is distillation of bluesy barroom baritone and bravado, graveyard jazz grooves, and noir-ish confessional lyricism backed by boisterous piano, guitar, and strings. Eclectic, engaging and instilled with a deep respect and knowledge for the Great American Songbook, SUGAR DROPS is the actualization of longstanding intent for Davina.

“It represents about 100 years of Americana; I did exactly what I wanted to do,” Davina says.

Davina grew up in Altoona, PA, which she now describes as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.” She developed a heavy drug habit in high school, which morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail, and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band, and worked [her] **** off every day since.”

Davina and the band are constantly on the road, touring throughout the world they’ve earned feverish acclaim from the Chicago Tribune, NPR, and more in addition to performing on BBC’s international favorite late-night program Later…with Jools Holland and appearing on PBS’s Bluegrass Underground.