After releasing two albums on a major label, filming a Super Bowl commercial and touring the country, you'd think that when it came time for rising star Alana Davis to record a new album, it would be as easy as strapping on her guitar.
But not for this fast-talking, opinionated 30-year-old. She decided to make things a little more challenging for herself with her third album. She dropped her record label and recorded Surrender Dorothy all by herself.
"As a young artist, you need the support, but there is so little artistic development," says Davis, who lives in Los Angeles. "I am amazed that people are dying for the deal. That can be the antithesis to the art."
So for a year, the singer-songwriter worked on writing 20 songs in spurts, finally settling on nine original tracks and two covers, including an acoustic version of Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper." It took just as long to establish her own label, Tigress Records.
Thanks to a partnership with jazz record label Telarc International, Davis was able to get out the album in February and is now busy promoting and marketing the earnest collection of bluesy, jazzy, folk-rocky songs. Named in honor of The Wizard of Oz, the album explores the search for self-fulfillment and self-knowledge.
"The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies since I was three years old," she explains. "I always wanted to be a little bit like Dorothy. As I get older, I realize the path of Dorothy is not mine. I decided to be Alana instead. The last couple of years have been levels of death and rebirth for me... In life, you want to fit in. But you turn a corner in life where you need to be you."
The song "Vision," for example, was inspired by the sight of "so many people seeking religion and spirituality right now." Davis says she, too, is one of those seekers, one who only recently discovered that she needed to look inward rather than outward to be happy.
Love ‑- rather, the quest for love ‑- is the other major theme in the album. "Stay," one of her favorites, "is kind of a personal love note to my future love. "I am a professional romantic," she says. "There is someone riding in the sunset for me, I am sure. I just have to keep believing. And I do. The truth is I am fed up with having my heart broken but not my heart being filled."
Growing up in New York City's Greenwich Village, Davis was surrounded by music. Her father was the great jazz pianist Walter Davis Jr. (who passed away when she was 16). Her mother, jazz singer Anamari, taught her the months of the year and how to tell time by putting the lessons to song.
Still, it wasn't until the age of 18, when the poetry and journal writer was at Mohawk Valley Community College in upstate New York, that she finally explored her musical talents.
"I was hanging out with my cousins, and they would have jam sessions," she recalls. "After four weeks, I had to play. I borrowed one of my cousin's guitars. It hurt the fingers of my left hand, but it was so much fun, singing and playing along. Next thing I knew, I was playing my own stuff."
Musically, things clicked into place quickly enough. She did a few demos and caught the ear of Elektra executives. In 1997, she released Blame It on Me to critical acclaim. She was declared "a major talent" by Time magazine.
But the partnership wasn't faring well when it came time to release the second album, Fortune Cookies. Unhappy with some of the artistic compromises she made with that recording, Davis became even more disillusioned when promotion fell short of what she wanted.
"The label did not push it much because it came out September 11, 2001," she says. "Timewise, it didn't get a chance to have a life. It was almost stillborn. I knew I had to make another baby. The fastest way to do it, I thought, was to do it on my own."
When she saw her chance, Davis wiggled out of her contract. And, after consulting with friends in the industry and family, she decided in 2003 to go the independent route. "I was talking to another label about doing a record. They gave me the impression that they would only give me money," she says. "Money is important and to have a label act as a bank is huge. But I started to think about it. If I spend a little money and focus, I may have the same effect as spending tons of [the label's] money and greater reward. I gathered the confidence because I was getting these offers. It was flattering, but I thought maybe I could do this."
It hasn't been all joy and harmony. Starting a record label has been an all-encompassing adventure. Every day is a learning experience. Decisions take a little longer to make because she and her partners need to do their research. She has "no life, no life, no fun," she says.
Yet, she wouldn't change a single note, a single decision. "The people involved believe in me," she says. "There are no parasites and people who are lukewarm about [the record]. They give a shit. That is powerful. That makes me feel I have work to do."
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