The North Shore Music Association is delighted to host Davina and the Vagabonds on Saturday, October 7. The concert will start at 7:00 pm at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts in Grand Marais. 

Putting a new spin on an old sound, Davina and the Vagabonds bring audiences high-energy live shows and a commanding stage presence. Davina Sowers has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, and Betty Boop, but she is a true original. Offering 100 years of American music and Davina's originals, the band mixes edgy nostalgia with fresh new music. The quintet is made-up of Sowers on keyboard, with acoustic bass, drums, and a spicy trumpet and trombone horn section. The group's focused, clean sound and emphasis on acoustic instruments is novel to both blues and jazz worlds, and it sets the show closer to New Orleans than to Chicago.

To date, they’ve performed in 45 states, 12 European countries, and two Canadian provinces. They’ve earned feverish acclaim from the Chicago Tribune and NPR, and they have performed on the BBC’s favorite late-night program Later… with Jools Holland and PBS’s Bluegrass Underground. Their album Sunshine made the Top 15 of Billboard’s Top Blues Album chart in 2014. Rolling Stone Magazine writes, “Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash—a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there.”

DownBeat Magazine says of the band, “They dare to be different. Davina zips to near impossible heights in a divine declaration of romance.”

Tickets to the show are general admission, $20 adults, $10 youth 18 and under. They are for sale in advance at northshoremusicassociation.com and at the door starting at 6:00 pm on the night of the performance. The Arrowhead Center for the Arts is located at 51 W 5th Street, Grand Marais.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.