On her new album, Mikaela Davis has found her own sort of Graceland.
Davis, the acclaimed harpist and singer/songwriter, returns with her latest LP, Graceland Way, out Friday via Kill Rock Stars.
While the term Graceland conjures up multitudes of rock ’n’ roll iconography, from Elvis Presley’s Tennessee homestead to Paul Simon’s landmark 1986 act of intercontinental musical cultural exchange, Davis’ Graceland refers to a specific place: UHF Studio in Los Angeles County’s Chevy Chase Canyon on the street Graceland Way, the home studio of producer and bassist Dan Horne, who co-produced the album with guitarist John Lee Shannon.
“The lore of California is just all over the record, and I was very inspired by spending a lot of time out there and being literally in Chevy Chase Canyon,” said Davis, a native of Rochester, New York. “So, in this canyon outside of Dan’s house and studio back door, you can see the hills, you can hear the coyotes and the owls, and we’re so close to LA but also close to the desert, and just having that neo-Western kind of canyon country vibe was all over the record.”
The resultant album a work of vibrant, full-color psychedelic rock that marks an electric pivot from the lush, pastoral twang of her previous effort, 2023’s And Southern Star, and as a result comes closer than anything else Davis has previously done in the studio to capturing the experience of her singularly spellbinding live show.
“I didn’t think about that specifically, I was more just thinking about how to capture the songs in the best way possible,” Davis said, “but I’m sure that that came through for a multitude of reasons – one of them being that I was working with my friends and working at Dan Horne’s studio, and he just has really great gear and is an excellent engineer; him and John Lee Shannon put so much care into this project.”
Another factor shaping Davis’ sound is her time spent in the land of the Grateful Dead, having become a trusted live collaborator of that band’s co-founders guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh before their recent deaths. Davis’ command of the Dead canon be heard on her limited-edition live album Play Dead: The Relix Session, available on vinyl via her website, but to hear her tell it the influence of her time with Weir and Lesh can be heard in everything she’s done since.
“Learning those songs and playing with Bob and Phil was really life-changing, and getting the Grateful Dead songs under my fingers really just changed the way I started writing songs and the way I started playing with my band,” Davis said. “It’s not even something that I think about specifically when I’m writing or when I’m creating, but I can definitely tell in general that my horizon has broadened and I’m just growing from learning this music, so it’s fun to continue to see where it takes me.”
Coinciding with Friday’s release of Graceland Way Davis is heading back on the road, with dates across the country currently scheduled through the fall – including engagements on Friday, July 17 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia and Saturday, July 18 at TV Eye in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, New York.
“You’re always trying to make something better than what you’ve done before as an artist, it’s just fun because I know I’ll continue to get better and I’ll continue to learn more and more forever,” she said. “And that’s one of the best things about playing an instrument, playing music – I will always be trying to learn more about the harp and about songwriting and always trying to listen to music to discover what else is out there, there is so much out there.
“I know I’m biased, but I do feel like this is my best work yet. And that’s always how I feel when I put out a new record, when I’m bringing out something new, ‘This is better than whatever I’ve done before,’ and I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t really want to have a record where I feel like I can never top that. And that’s how I felt after I put out ‘And Southern Star,’ I was so excited about all the songs and thought, ‘Oh, I don’t know how I could possibly make an album better than this,’ but then ‘Graceland Way’ came along and I am really proud of it, and proud of these songs and the arrangements and the people who put their heart and soul into it, their blood, sweat and tears. So now I have the same thought: How can I do better than this? But I’m sure the songs will come and I’ll be all excited about the next album, too.”
