Davina & The Vagabonds’ Davina Sowers on her musical awakening & life battles

Drawing inspiration from blues, neo-soul, jazz and the Great American Songbook songwriting craft, Davina & The Vagabonds’ sound is very much a collage of musical influences, but at the same time, they manage to seamlessly fuse emotional weight with an irresistible swing. The band’s frontwoman and bandleader, Davina Sowers, believes “that's what gives it the authenticity”.

“Maybe that's why I'm not super famous, but who wants fame?,” Sowers joked. “I really want to be able to play what I want to play. And I feel different all the time when I'm playing music.

I don't want to be a purist. I feel that that's really a stunted type of viewpoint with music when you meet purists. No offence to them, but that's just not the way I am. I'm not a conventional person. I mean, if I could take one thing away from people, that would be fear, and there's nothing like the feeling of freedom, and music definitely gives that to me,” Sowers finished.

Sowers’ story and that of the band are ones marked by resilience, discipline and dedication to their craft and a work ethic that can be described as relentless. The band’s frontwoman was raised in the industrial town of Altoona, Pennsylvania – a place she previously described as “horrible for high school" but proved to be educational in its own unique way.

Sowers’ musical awakening came when she heard pre-war jazz and blues via her stepfather’s Edison phonograph for the first time, discovering the likes of Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Louis Prima, to name a few. Equally, Davina’s mother, who performed as a folk singer, was a big influence in her own regard, providing Sowers with access to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath records, and the vocalist admitted her mother’s insight helped her immensely.

“I don't think I would be where I am musically if it wasn't for my mum,” the bandleader confessed. “She really opened up this door as far back as I can remember with music, and she's so wonderful. I remember she would even play Stairway to Heaven and stuff like that on her guitar, so I was just raised with that. She really instilled so much musically in me while she was raising me. I owe her, I mean, my life, obviously, because she's my mum. I owe her so much for any type of success that I've had because of the door that she opened for me with music,” Sowers finished.

Music subsequently became Sowers’ first love, and it was a love that persisted through a turbulent period for the artist. After early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, Sowers endured battles with a drug addiction and was left homeless for a period of time, but she successfully overcame her addiction and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2004, forming Davina & the Vagabonds soon after.

“I'm really lucky to be alive. And I can say that, because I almost died,” Sowers reflected. “I think the resilience and the fact that I was a strong human being – and I don't want to call addiction a weakness, because it's a much more complex, nuanced thing, addiction, that nobody really talks about. There’s a stigma that’s not beneficial, obviously. I just really learned that I could be strong and resilient, specifically getting clean and having the opportunity to really change my life around. I'm a miracle. I mean, I can't even tell you where I was and where I am now. And the complete difference. It's almost like a different lifetime,” Sowers said when touching on what she learned in that experience.

Sowers’ battles with addiction subsequently provided the inspiration for the first song she’d written – 'Finally Home' – a track that sees the artist reach her destination of finding “a safe place in my life that I could finally call home”. Upon launching the Vagabonds, Sowers felt she had a point to prove, a trait that remains to this day.

“I still have a point to prove,” Sowers admitted. “It was hard being a woman in the industry and then also being freshly clean. I had a point to prove to myself, and I had a point to prove to everybody that was supporting me. It wasn't all selfish, but I also had a mission, so to speak, to get it together and to show I was born to do this. I firmly believe that,” she finished.

Since forming the Vagabonds, Davina has gone on to perform in 45 states in the United States of America. Sowers noted she’s yet to perform in Hawaii and South Carolina, 12 European nations, received acclaim from NPR and the Chicago Tribune and performed on ‘Later… With Jools Holland, where she had a quick exchange with a pianist that she has never forgotten. “He tapped me on the shoulder when we’re done (performing), and he said, 'Thank you for keeping this music alive.' I think I melted. It was just the sweetest thing ever,” she added. However, the journey as a band wasn’t planned out, as such.

After an encounter with sound engineer Rick Olson, Sowers was offered a house gig and was asked whether she had a band or not. Not wanting to let the opportunity slide, Sowers opportunistically declared that she had, leading to the frontwoman needing to cobble together a band. “I worked so hard those three months to get together a massive amount of music. But yeah, that's what really was the catalyst for this whole thing. One hundred per cent. So when I told him that story, I was like, 'You know, I lied to you.' He's like, Yeah, so I not only owe my career to my mom; I guess I owe it to Rick Olson, too,” she finished.

For her latest run in the United Kingdom, which gets underway in Barnoldswick this evening, Davina & The Vagabonds will perform in Selby, Cardiff, Broadstairs, Newcastle, Godalming, and Devon at the Sidmouth Jazz & Blues Festival before returning in July to perform for three nights at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, underlining the band’s tremendous work ethic.

The Vagabonds’ last two albums – 'Love Nest Holiday’ and ‘Shoot for the Moon' – were released in 2024, and one thing Davina has promised to do on this upcoming run is to “road test” some fresh material she’s been working on. “I think I've got six songs that I've been able to muster up. And they mean a lot to me. And so that's what we're going to be doing,” she added.

Davina & The Vagabonds will perform at the Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre this evening. Tickets are available at https://www.barnoldswickmusicandartscentre.com/davina-and-the-vagabonds