Mikaela Davis is a classically trained harpist who has infused her harp into music that creates “an original and genre-bending catalog that weaves together 60s pop-soaked melodies, psychedelia and driving bluegrass rock.” She’s toured and recorded with Circles Around The Sun.
Davis and her band Southern Star will perform at Icehouse’s Courtyard in Minneapolis on June 28. She’s also working on a new LP that is due out next year — and she mentioned she’ll be playing some new material in Minneapolis. See her full tour schedule here. Davis chatted with Jam in the Stream editor Javier Serna this week.
JitS: How did you become a jam or jam-related artist?
MD: Well, it all happened pretty naturally. I grew up studying classical harp and started writing music, writing songs at an early age. Once I went to college, I formed a band. Both of my bandmates Alex (Coté) and Cian (McCarthy) were jazz majors. So from the get-go I was influenced by classical and jazz. And of course I listened to a lot of rock music and psychedelic and Americana music. It’s all over the spectrum for me in my influences. That melded into whatever you call it that we play now.
I was introduced into the world of jam when I was asked to sit in with Bob Weir. That was really the first time I started improvising harp. Once I broke into the Grateful Dead scene Deadheads starting coming out to our shows. We started playing a couple of Grateful Dead tunes here and there. That led to improvising in my music and my songs. It just went from there.
JitS FOLLOW: How familiar were you with the Grateful Dead at the time (of the Weir sit in)?
MD: I had a general knowledge of the music. I knew the hits and would listen to the music casually but I never dove into the songs. I never learned the material. Once I started learning the tunes, I really fell in love with the music.
Mikaela Davis and Southern Star are working on a new LP due out next year. PHOTO BY WYNDHAM GARNETT, COURTESY OF MIKAELA DAVIS
JitS: Did it feel like you were entering uncharted territory bringing the harp to music that didn’t necessarily feature the harp before?
MD: I suppose so. I have just been trying to learn from other jazz harpists, who were really the ones breaking uncharted territory with the harp. … There are not many harpists who are in a rock band. I knew I was doing something that was a little unusual, but it never felt unusual to me because it’s my instrument.
JitS: Which musician or musicians, harpists or otherwise, have had the biggest influence on you and your playing?
MD: Well, my teachers, first off. My longtime teacher in Rochester, Grace Wong. She taught me how to play the harp. And then my teacher in college, (Dr.) Jessica Suchy-Pilalis (of Crane School of Music). They are both incredible harpists and taught me everything I know in the classical sense, and then from that world I started to discover jazz harpists. Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, of course, and Brandee Younger. And I found out about Joanna Newsom, a songwriter who plays the harp. So the community is fairly small, but it’s growing. … I was also very influenced by classical harpist and composer Carlos Salzedo. I grew up learning his pieces.
JitS: How did the collaboration with Circles Around the Sun develop?
MD: We toured together a couple of years back. Before we even went on tour they asked if I would record harp on one of the singles that came out right before the tour. So I was immediately sitting in with them playing “Language.” After that, we’ve all stayed very close friends. I am dating John (Lee Shannon). I’ve always been around, hanging out and we decided to record an EP together. That was really fun. John had the idea to record “After Sunrise,” which is a Sérgio Mendes tune. And then we went into the studio and wrote a couple of others.
JitS FOLLOW: I love the album cover and press photo for that.
MD: That was a fun day. We rented out somebody’s really fancy house in Hollywood and took some photos by their pool.
JitS: I know you’ve had the chance to perform with a lot of amazing musicians but one performance that caught my attention was at the Newport Jazz Festival with John Scofield, Christian McBride, Marco Benevento and Joe Russo. Tell me about that experience. Do you remember what you felt in the moment?
MD: Oh, yeah. That was really fun. Christian called me up one day, and was like, ‘Hey, Davis, what are you up to like this weekend?’ I didn’t have anything going on. He was like, ‘I want you to come to Newport Jazz Festival.’ I didn’t have my own slot. I wasn’t on the bill. But he wanted me to come play The Jam Jawn (set). And I sat in and played a Dorothy Ashby tune (“Action Line”) during Brandee Younger’s set. It was really fun. It was all improvised. When I went up with The Jam Jawn, we didn’t know what was going to happen. I felt like I was in a dream being up there with all of those greats. It was pretty crazy.
JitS FOLLOW: How did you know (Philadelphia jazz bassist) Christian McBride?
MD: Yeah, this was still during lockdown and I was put on some benefit with him at The Barn (Levon Helm Studios) in Woodstock, N.Y. It was me, him and Marco (Benevento) and Joe Russo, the four of us. It was an improvised set. I can’t remember what it was for, raising money for something. I got put on that, and I think that was the same year he called me up and had me come to (Newport) Jazz Fest. He is also the nicest dude ever.