She's a veteran with some bulletins

(Daily Hampshire Gazette: Dec. 12, 1996: p.23,

"Clubland" by Ken Maiuri)

Diana Davies has been writing songs and performing for more than a quarter of a decade. She quit school at16 and played her music on the streets for years. She's performed in dingy sailor dives, country bars, hip clubs, and on sidewalks from Maine to California and everywhere in between. And she wants you to know what's happening out there.

Up until now her bulletins were restricted to few-and-far-between local live performances, but Davies will soon be able to get her signal out to a larger audience: the songwriter will release her first-ever cassette ("Twelve O'Clock Girl in a Nine O'Clock Town") tonight at the Fire & Water Cafe at 9 p.m. at a free show that, in addition to Davies, also features Ray Mason, Pirate Jenny, the Maggies, Tizzy, and a staggering six other bands.

And while Davies is excited about the show and her tape, she's not interested in any spotlight, media or otherwise. "I am terrifyingly shy," said Davies. "I have a better time performing music than talking. I can go weeks at a time without saying anything to anybody."

Though it took a while, Davies was finally coaxed by fans into recording her songs. "It was mostly friends who said, 'You have to!'" said Davies.

Two of those friends were Amy Greene and Aimee Swift, guitarists for the band Pirate Jenny and owners of Red Hot Records, their Northampton-based record company (which celebrates its one-year birthday this month). "She's had the most fascinating life, and it comes through in her songs," said Swift, explaining why they wanted to release Davies' music. "She has this amazing, unwavering support of the entire local music scene - but she tends to downplay her stuff. She paints, draws, takes photographs, writes songs, all documenting things in her life. We wanted to document her."

And so Greene and Swift spent many weekends recording Davies directly and simply. "It's just me, a guitar, and an amp," said Davies. "It was recorded in a garage on Sunday afternoons after Food Not Bombs."

The resulting six-song cassette is striking in its immediacy and power, much like an historic recording of a blues or folk legend. And as powerful as Davies' strumming is, it's no match for the intensity of her urgent vocals. Whether she's singing stories about once-great cities slowly decaying into ghost towns, an old woman saving a puppy on the New York City subway tracks, or calling attention to the life of Nancy Spungen, Davies' shyness disappears, overtaken by raw emotion. In her live performances, the singer stands up tall and strong, her guitar slung against her leg, eyes closed in concentration, her voice commanding full attention. "Twelve O'Clock Girl" captures Davies' no-nonsense attack.

"A lot of people do songs about relationships," she said. "But we have to talk about everything."

"I like music that tells us what's going on in the world and how we can make things better," said Davies, citing Billy Bragg, Nina Simone, X-Ray Spex, and Big Mama Thorton as influences. "I think it's important for you to say what you want to say, and have people hear what you want to say."

Davies described the first time she saw Patti Smith - another of her influences - in New York City in 1970. "There were only 15 people there," she said. "Her words were clear, often bizarre, but illuminating. She was a really tough woman out there performing. And the scene was mostly men. It still is."

The experienced performer ("Like the Roches, I don't give out my age or my phone number," said Davies) has lived in the Valley three times in her life: her current stay in Northampton has lasted two years. What brings her back to the area? "Music," she said. "And my closest friends."

"And I'm passionately in love with local musicians," said Davies. "When I hear local bands play, I feel like a little kid."

Indeed, you're almost guaranteed to see an excited Davies at a local show, giving the musicians all the support she can, even if she's not crazy about the place they're playing. "What I like to see in terms of clubs is space, air, all-ages, and a welcome," she said. "If I ran a club, I'd say, 'Welcome, come in, have a good time.'"

"I wish everything could be free - shelter, food, and the arts - and that people would play all over the place and everyone would appreciate it," said Davies. "That's the thing about playing on the street - it's an egalitarian thing. People are free to come and go. Some people make a face and go away. Some stick around and listen and like it. Most little kids stay. I think that's wonderful."

Davies also thinks it's great when local music makers stick around - that is, continue to write and perform for decades, doing it themselves, like Ray Mason or Gideon Freudmann. "I'd like to see the local musicians get their music out of the area," said Davies, sounding like both the proud mom and the ultimate fan.

But what about the "terrifyingly shy" Davies, also a local musician? "I don't know what I want," she said. "I just want to play."

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