Mikaela Davis takes the next big step with 'And Southern Star' 

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There’s an ever-evolving shortlist of locally grown artists who, despite having plenty of runway ahead of them in their careers, have already become prominent ambassadors of Rochester music culture to the rest of the world: Danielle Ponder, Joywave, Maybird, King Buffalo, Undeath.

Mikaela Davis is right up there at the top of the list. At 31, the classically trained harpist and indie singer-songwriter has already played alongside ’60s legends Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, as well as millennial heavyweights Bon Iver and Lake Street Dive.

On August 4, Davis will have achieved another career milestone when her latest album, “And Southern Star,” is released by Kill Rock Stars. Now in its 32nd year, the Portland, Oregeon-based record label has helped launch the careers of Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, and The Decemberists, and with its eponymous 1991 compilation album gave many music lovers their first taste of such upstart bands as The Melvins, Bikini Kill, and most notably, Nirvana.

Davis first collaborated with Kill Rock Stars in 2021 for the label’s 30th anniversary, when she and her band recorded a cover of Elliott Smith’s “Some Song” with singer-songwriter Mary Lou Lord, a former girlfriend of the late Kurt Cobain. A year later, Davis was approached by The Decemberists’ guitarist Chris Funk to write a song for Kill Rock Stars’ Dungeons & Dragons-themed compilation “SPELLJAMS.” By the time Kill Rock Stars agreed to put out Davis’s new album, it had already been recorded and produced by the singer-songwriter and her band — guitarists Cian McCarthy and Kurt Johnson, bassist Shane McCarthy, and drummer Alex Coté.
For Davis, who had previously signed with the indie label Rounder Records for her 2018 album “Delivery,” deciding to work with a label like Kill Rock Stars, outside of the mainstream, was purposeful. “It's definitely an intentional thing, because you don't know what's going to happen when you sign with a big label,” she said. “You can just get stuck on the label and they'll forget about you, and maybe not release music or not be on your schedule, but you're in this huge contract, so you can't do anything.”

The Rochester native, who has listened to Kill Rock Stars-produced albums since she was in high school, said the smaller independent label, now owned by Exceleration Music, is different. “It does feel like not only a partnership but a friendship,” she said, “and they're there as committed to my album as I am.”

Kill Rock Stars founder Matthew “Slim” Moon said signing an artist to the label is not just about celebrating the music on the current record, but investing in the creative potential of the artist moving forward. “I want people to love this record, I want lots of people to hear this record,” Moon said. “But I'm also super excited and passionate about the chance to see what Mikaela and her band do next. Because as great as they are, I think they are going to go even further and do even more amazing things in the future.”

At first, Kill Rock Stars’ historical legacy and bona fide reputation as indie rock, grunge, and punk soothsayer might seem at odds with Davis’s psychedelic wash of classic rock, country, and classical precision. Both the artist and her label have strong ’70s influences, but Davis’s songs skew more toward the Laurel Canyon sound of James Taylor, Carole King and Neil Young than Kill Rock Stars’ edgier touchstones like The Clash and Patti Smith.

Moon acknowledges that apparent stylistic disconnect, but said partnering with Davis and her band Southern Star makes sense for the label at this point in its existence, coinciding with the 2002 launch of Kill Rock Stars Nashville, the label’s Americana music imprint (although “And Southern Star” is being released as part of KRS’s main catalog).

“We're more open to and feel competent and ready to promote a record like Mikaela’s at this time than we could have done 10 or 20 years ago,” Moon said.


The nine original songs on “And Southern Star” possess Davis’s signature harp playing, which mixes pristine timbre with nuanced technical proficiency. In short, it sounds pretty, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Davis and the band are equally skilled at presenting intimate story-songs as they are at blissing out with extended instrumental adventures. The combined sound of Davis’s harp and Johnson’s pedal steel guitar lend a distinctive twist to the Grateful Dead’s beloved country-jam aesthetic, but the songs are always delivered in a concise and accessible song structure.

Despite the auspices of a new record label whose history is steeped in a very different style, Davis’s compelling voice and songwriting remain at the forefront of her music.

For more information on the artist, go to mikaeladavis.com.

Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].