While I was in Scotland, I was lucky enough to go to the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, and I saw some amazing acts. One of the groups really stood out, to the point where I had to find out more about them. That act was Davina & The Vagabonds, a blues group from Minnesota of all places. Who knew that this tiny festival in Scotland would have an amazing group from the states?

The rainy Scotland day definitely didn’t dampen their spirits. They have an amazing stage presence, which drew in a huge crowd, including my friend Lori and myself. None of the acts we had seen so far that day had really impressed us, so we weren’t expecting anything great. Luckily, we were wrong. Davina commanded the stage with her group of Vagabonds and I knew they were something special. They mostly performed covers of famous blues songs and had only about two original songs. The combination of Davina’s voice and the power of the band had me locked into the music the whole time; I knew I had to find out more about them. Below is a video of their performance of “Start Running,” live from the Music City Roots Festival, a whimsical and fun song that shows their energetic performance style.

Once I got back to my host house, the first thing I did was hop on my computer and find more of their music. Due to the small-time nature of the festival, I thought it was going to be hard to find any music by them. To my surprise, it turns out they have released two full albums. That was the best news I could have received. I began with their most recent release, Sunshine. I know I say this a lot, but I really didn’t find one song I didn’t like on it. The album began with the title track “Sunshine,” a fun, bluesy tune that actually was one of the songs they had performed at the festival. It starts the album on such a happy note and shows off the amazing talent of Dan Eikmeier and Ben Link, the trumpet and trombone players of the band. As a brass musician myself, I’ve always had a soft spot for a good brass section.

In addition to the two brass musicians I mentioned above, the band consists of the drummer Connor McRae, The Upright Bass player Andrew Burns (who also plays the Sousaphone), and of course Davina Sowers, who is both the lead vocalist and the pianist. The song “Heavenly Day” features only Davina with piano and vocals. It’s quite simplistic, but I think that’s what I like about it. The soft, romantic tone of the song makes a really wonderful song that gives a lot of range to the album.

I’ve never been a huge blues enthusiast, but I wouldn’t say that Davina & The Vagabonds is the typical blues group. Most of the blues pieces I was familiar with before the festival bored me or just were not that impressive, but Davina & The Vagabonds has opened my eyes to the blues genre. Their upbeat and entertaining music has not been a disappointment.

This experience really gives perspective on how you can find amazing musicians anywhere. I just happened to go to this free festival one day and ended up discovering an amazing band that inspired me enough that I felt inspired to share their work with everyone.

For the Spotify playlist this week, I obviously couldn’t choose a favorite song, so I put the whole album. I did have to stop myself after putting a couple songs from their first album, so I highly recommend that you check out the rest of their music. You definitely won’t be disappointed.