DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS shows are filled with New Orleans charm, Memphis soul swagger and dark theatrical moments. Davina has been compared to Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and even Betty Boop, but comparisons don’t suffice. Sowers is a true original. ‘Sugar Drops’ is her first album on Red House Records and marks the first time this Minneapolis-based artist entered a proper studio to record an album. It’s a distillation of bluesy barroom baritone and bravado, graveyard jazz grooves, and noir-ish confessional lyricism backed by boisterous piano, guitar, and strings, the music actualizes.

TURLACH BOYLAN and DAVEY MATHIAS are two masters of traditional Irish music. Turlach Boylan was once cryptically introduced onstage as “a musician’s musician”. He learned his music standing in the Culleybackey kitchen of County Antrim flute master John Kennedy, kickstarting a lifelong pursuit of the elusive musical quality ‘Lift’. Davey Mathias is literally a guitarist’s guitarist. He has often performed with fiddler Randal Bays, himself a highly respected Irish music guitarist.

WoodSongs Kid: Hudson MacCready is an twelve-year-old guitar player from Knoxville, Tennessee.