APLR Presents: Mikaela Davis with Nic Panken<\/p>\n
Saturday, July 25th, 2026<\/p>\n
AyurPrana Listening Room – 312 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806<\/p>\n
Doors 6PM || Event 7PM<\/p>\n
Mikaela Davis<\/p>\n
Every universe begins with a singular point, a quiet corner where instinct speaks loudest, where existential imagination can stretch its limbs. For acclaimed harpist and songwriter Mikaela Davis\u2019 new album, Graceland Way (due TK via Kill Rock Stars), that singularity was a hillside home in Chevy Chase Canyon, a spot nestled in Los Angeles County where time slowed, the world fell away, and Davis could create from a sense of warmth and deep attentiveness. The \u201ccanyon country\u201d epic born of that care ties a neo-western future back to the lineage of Laurel Canyon, the mythos of Elvis\u2019s Graceland, and Paul Simon\u2019s restless reinvention\u2014a place where Davis can explore the fragile balance of light and dark, grace and struggle, rose and thorn, as well as the mystical power found at their nexus.<\/p>\n
The record\u2019s musical big bang originated at the nexus of UHF Studio, where Davis and noted guitarist John Lee Shannon, co-wrote the record and co-produced alongside longtime collaborator Dan Horne. As the album\u2019s story of an unnamed antihero navigating life in a failing world, her harp, his guitar, and their joint melodies weave a mystic depth. That\u2019s immediately evident from the opening track \u201c(Looking Through) Rose Colored Glasses\u201d, a harp glissando burst functioning like a blissful wormhole to a new universe where dark Western tones come aided by Kurt G. Johnson\u2019s pedal steel guitar and transformative harmonies from guest vocalists Madison Cunningham and Tim Heidecker. But even in this pained origin story, Davis\u2019 glittering, opalescent voice and evocative harp find a depth of beauty.<\/p>\n
That duality is then immediately challenged in \u201cNothin\u2019s On The Radio\u201d, where the antihero arrives in a city devoid of meaning, the dystopia of modern homogenized radio writ large. \u201cIt already feels dystopic living in a world today where radio stations are all owned by a handful of corporations, all playing the same artists. Gone are the days when the radio was a way to bring people together, to amplify the voices of freaks and weirdos from all corners of the world,\u201d she says. \u201cI was fortunate to grow up in the last years of the golden age of FM radio, and being able to tune into this magical world far beyond my own was a transformative experience. Hearing artists like Sheryl Crow and Vanessa Carlton coming through the car stereo is what made me want to write songs and play music in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the album progresses and the story continues, Davis and her compatriots explore magic and mysticism on \u201c11:11\u201d and the haunting darkness of \u201cMizmoon\u201d. Cass McCombs wrote the latter, rattling percussion and Davis\u2019 harp low end giving way to slippery shadows of violin. \u201cWhen Cass first sent over the track, it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThe music and lyrics create such an ominous mood and I could imagine how the harp would carry the song right away.\u201d Elsewhere, Wednesday vocalist Karly Hartzman contributes to \u201cJunk Love\u201d, an exploration of knowingly filling an empty space with meaningless physicality. Across Graceland Way\u2019s, Davis\u2019 harp masterfully powers the wide variety of soundscapes, taking on an ecstatic range of emotional color. \u201cAt the end of the journey, the place you were destined for all along isn\u2019t even a place, it\u2019s a state of mind: Graceland Way,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIt\u2019s all interconnected and the universe balances itself. You need the dark to see the light, and the most beauty usually happens where the two meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nic Panken<\/p>\n
Born in Brooklyn and living in Kingston, NY, Nic Panken has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, performing on NPR’s Tiny Desk, at Newport Folk Festival and Austin City Limits as lead singer in NYC band Spirit Family Reunion. His debut solo record Near Divine or Merely Rhyme came out in April 2026, co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Jared Samuel (Kevin Morby), and featuring guest musicians Mat Davidson (Twain) and Austin Vaughn (Cass McCombs) among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
APLR Presents: Mikaela Davis with Nic Panken Saturday, July 25th, 2026 AyurPrana Listening Room – 312 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806 Doors 6PM || Event 7PM Mikaela Davis Every universe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":93355,"template":"","meta":{"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"class_list":["post-93353","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n