In 2012, Ashley released Songs of the Celtic Winter here at the Lied Center for her hometown to hear first. A decade later, she will do the same with part two of this winter series of albums on December 20, for one night only in the main auditorium. Joining her will be her band, including Dave Curley, Colin Farrell and Will MacMorran, with special musical guest Nick Carswell on piano.
Songs of the Celtic Winter II covers Ashley’s greatest scope of writing to date. The soothing new album ranges from lush piano arrangements to middle-eastern influences that she has gathered along her travels. In writing and putting together this album, Ashley says of it: “There has been an aftermath of healing needed in this world post COVID. I wrote this album with friends to help people move from that place of sadness into a steady peace. And that’s the beauty of music; it transports us to healing places.”
Join us for a relaxing evening of winter music and be transported back to a time when letters were written by hand and candlelight with great expectation.
ABOUT ASHLEY:
Think Joni Mitchell meets contemporary Celtic and you’ll get something like the creative force of Ashley Davis, an American singer-songwriter whose musical imagination invites the world into her eclectic sphere. While this mash-up may classify her work, Ashley’s unique ability to capture and cross musical traditions ultimately transcends comparison. Her soft-spoken music conjures a genre and world all its own. Good Morning America, for instance, describes the Ashley Davis Band as “new music springing from ancient roots.” A culmination of the many influences that have inspired her over the years, Davis’s songwriting has captivated audiences on either side of the Atlantic. She has excelled in Celtic folk, Americana, and even electronic, proving she can turn any musical style into a spellbinding story. In the words of Academy Award-winning composer Philip Glass, Ashley Davis has “as much musicality as anyone could wish for.”
A native of Kansas and a graduate of the University of Limerick’s World Music Centre, Ashley Davis writes music that lives between continents and speaks to two national traditions. Between her background in American roots and love of Celtic folk, she possesses a unique talent for conjoining ancient history with modern, intercultural interpretation. As a performer moving between Nashville, New York, the west of Ireland and even the Isle of Man, where she served as artist-in-residence in 2006, Ashley has always applied her distinct Great Plains perspective to a range of genres and cultures, forging songs out of the moment when different minds and backgrounds meet.
