About Ashley

If traditional Irish music in the U.S. is to become anything other than a museum piece, it needs people like Ashley Davis.
—Sean O Driscoll/ Irish Times

Now selling out shows in major venues in NYC and abroad, Ashley has just released her sophomore effort “Down By the Sea” which is already being heralded as one of the great Celtic music albums of 2009. Says the Irish Voice of NYC (Feb 2009): I could convince you to buy the album because The Chieftans’ Paddy Moloney, Cherish the Ladies’ Joanie Madden and Clannad’s Moya Brennan are all over the album…the plain truth is that this music deserves your attention because it’s a fiercely original voice that touches your heart without leaving you in fairy dust.”
Raised on the plains of Kansas, Ashley Davis is a musician whose songs are as much a product of the natural beauty found in her childhood environment, as they are the bluegrass, folk and classic country sounds that surrounded her in her youth. Through her many travels and experiences, a MA from the University of Limerick in Traditional Irish Music, Ashley has grown into a true artist, whose influences live in ancient Celtic lore, and American folk music.

While her music evokes vivid imagery of the natural world and our ever-shifting place in its splendor, Davis possesses an otherworldly musical aesthetic, one rooted deeply in the spirits of Celtic myth and folklore. In keeping with these rich traditions, along with those of her childhood in Kansas, Davis has mastered the art of storytelling. Her live shows are now as well known for their stunning blend of traditional Celtic and original songs as they are for Davis brilliant, often hilarious tales of her own travels, observations, encounters and heartbreaks.

At the age of fourteen, Davis started playing her first live performances throughout the Midwest region, and at eighteen she began her undergraduate study in Nashville in Literary studies surrounded by music electives. It is here that she discovered the rich worlds of Celtic music and culture, and was often featured as a solo performer at many of Nashvilles pubs and venues, including the famous songwriter haunt, The Bluebird Café.

At the University of Limerick, where her father was a guest lecturer, Davis was introduced to the Irish World Music Center and earned her Masters degree there under the direction of Michael OSullibhean. While at the university, she elected to specialize in DADGAD guitar, and had the honor of working with the great John Spillane, with whom she studied and collaborated.

Upon graduating with an MA in Traditional Irish Singing from the University of Limerick, Davis was chosen to be the soloist for Michael Flatleys Lord of the Dance and subsequently spent one year with the show.

In the past four years, Davis repertoire and song-writing has only become more rich and textured, as she gains an increasingly large and enthusiastic following in her new home of New York City where she is daily influenced by the various cultures around her. In addition to playing sold-out shows in two of New Yorks’ most prestigious music venues, she has earned the praise of peers, outside of the Celtic music world, such as Grammy-award winning composers Phillip Glass and Osvaldo Gilijov:

Ashley Davis is a young woman with a beautiful voice and as much musicality as anyone could wish for. And on top of that she writes and sings with a confidence way beyond her years. I wish her all the best and I look forward to watching her music and her career develop. —Philip Glass, Composer

Davis has also written and performed original music for critically acclaimed independent films, her sultry voice a wind for the passions of humankind to sail by.

A couple of years ago, Davis journeyed to the Isle of Man, where she was an Artist in Residence (2006), capturing and recording the native Manx language, as well as the melodies and stories of the island. This extremely important endeavor is helping to preserve the vibrant, endangered, yet-resurging culture on the Isle of Man, and has given Davis the opportunity to present lectures on Manx language, music and history at various colleges and universities in the United States.

The appeal of Davis unique sound has quickly spread beyond the realm of lush sonic landscapes. Her immense talent as a songwriter has recently inspired a number of other musicians to record her songs, drawn by the authenticity of their diverse origins and the elegance of their lyricism. Says the Irish Voice of New York City:

Ashley Davis is a grounded and unmistakable presence; an old soul sent from rocky seashores and quiet meadows to remind us of our lucid dreams. Her art is a Celtic knot, its threads of silk and roots entwined just delicately enough to form a truly bewitching kaleidoscope of sound. Her ancestors clearly approve of their honey-locked messenger.

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