Davina and the Vagabonds: Salty/Sweet Sexy Perfection in Holdrege, Nebraska

Last Sunday my wife and I were listening to Christmas on the Lam in the car.  I bought it mainly because I like Charlie Parr.  Suddenly, my wife said, “Who is this?  I love her voice!”  She checked the CD and saw it was a group called Davina and the Vagabonds.  “We will have to check out more by them,” I replied.  Sunday evening I received an email from friends of ours asking if we’d ever heard of a group called Davina and the Vagabonds.  It seems they were going to play at The Tassel in Holdrege on Friday and our friends had a line on tickets.  Well, as a matter of fact, we had heard of them.  It seemed like the fates had spoken so we quickly agreed to go along.

Before the show a small group of us met for hors d’oeuvres at the Rehm household (of Rehmsworld Concerts) including Tom Boyd, a huge Davina fan and the driving force behind getting her to Holdrege.  Then we all headed out to The Tassel Performing Arts Center.  It was our first time to this venue and it is such a beautiful facility!  Holdrege should be proud of having this in their community.

Let me tell you, Davina and the men in the band did not disappoint!  Davina did the majority of the singing but the men also took turns singing.  The drummer sang two songs, including “Louisiana Fairy Tale” by Louis Armstrong.  I couldn’t believe how much he sounded like Louis.

The real magic of the night was Davina’s voice which was like sandpaper and sugar mixed to a salty/sweet sexy perfection.  She lamented 8 days on the road without sweets but her songs certainly didn’t show it!  She made instant fans out of us.

At one point, someone in the crowd shouted, “I want to take you home with me!”  Davina responded, “That’s both a little sweet and a little creepy” adding “I’d be too much for you to handle.”

The highlights of the concert included, “I Need Some Sugar”, “Red Shoes”, “You Better Run” (Davina introduced this song as something she wrote when she was mad.  “Not that I condone violence,” she exclaimed, “I don’t condone violence at all.  But I was pretty mad.”), “Louisiana Fairy Tale” by Louis Armstrong and sung by the drummer, and “Lipstick and Chrome” (This was described as Bloogie, a mix of Blues and Boogie Woogie.).

My wife’s favorite was “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” which she said made her feel like she went to church. My favorite was the sassy and brazen “Shake That Thing”.  Enough said.

At the intermission and after the concert Davina came out to the table and sold and signed her own CDs. She was exceptionally personable and shared stories with those in line about her vintage clothing that she found in stores throughout the country.

Finally, it was time to go and after that concert heating us up we needed the frigid night air to cool us down.  We can’t wait to see them again!