Nov. 2: Davina and the Vagabonds

Saturday, November 2, 2019
7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Hooligan's Neighborhood Pub

MANKATO, Minn. – Davina and the Vagabonds will perform Saturday, Nov. 2 at Hooligan's Neighborhood Pub, 1400 East Madison Ave., Mankato. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. with Jada La France and the New Classics, an indie-rock group consisting of Minnesota State University, Mankato music industry students.

The concert event is co-sponsored by KMSU-The Maverick and the Minnesota State Mankato Performance Series with assistance from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

“We are very excited to be returning to Mankato,” Davina Sowers said in an interview. “It has been quite some time since we last appeared there. We always have a great time, and the Mankato audiences have always been very supportive and enthusiastic. We plan to have some new music to share as well.”

Sowers fronts a well-tested road band, creating her own Americana mishmash, a mixture of Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and Betty Boop, all with a 21st century twist. Comparisons don’t suffice—Sowers is a true original. Sowers’ voice and vigor have earned the Vagabonds quite a following throughout the United States, Europe, England, and South America.

NPR’s Marc Silver writes, “Davina Sowers’ classically trained right fingers shimmy down the piano keys and meet up with an insistent boogie-woogie bass. Then she reveals her other musical talent: a sassy, salty, sweet voice that’s childlike at the top, husky at the bottom.”

Blues in Britain adds, “Sowers’ vocals are unreal. She simultaneously evokes Adele and Bessie Smith, and the band’s sound is retro and fresh, a modern take on old-time blues, Dixieland and jazz.
Sowers has shared the stage with PineTop Perkins, Aaron Neville, Los Lobos, Little Feat, Buddy Guy, Elvin Bishop, The Blues Brothers, Joe Bonamassa, Irma Thomas and James Hunter, among others, at venues such as House of Blues in Atlantic City, N.J., the Bayfront Blues Festival in Duluth, Minn., the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, Calif., the Raperswil Blues & Jazz Festival in Switzerland and Blues in Hell Festival, Hell, Norway.

Concert admission is $15 in advance; $18 the day of the show. Tickets are available for purchase at Hooligans. Those who wish to purchase tickets online should go to link.mnsu.edu/musictickets.

For more information, call the Performance Series office, (507) 389-5549.