About Kim Davidson
You hear the voice first--full, throaty, rich, and powerful, commanding attention. At the same moment you feel it—every head at the bar turning in concert toward that sound. Some leave their well-worn stools to walk around the corner and see if they should believe what they hear. They should. Kim Davidson is the real deal, and if you’ve heard her live, you know it.
Kim grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, the oldest of five children. With a stay-at-home Mom who sang show tunes around the house, it’s not surprising that Kim’s first love was musical theater.
This passion led her to attend AMDA in New York City, where she lived in the Beacon Hotel above the famed Beacon Theatre. She followed the Broadway dream for a few years, performing in a variety of venues, before deciding to focus more intently on showcasing her greatest gift: her voice.
A friend got her into the country music scene, dragging her out to local line dance clubs, and a new love took hold. Songwriting came soon after, spurred by a bad break-up. “I had always thought that you had to go through some sort of qualification process to be a songwriter,” Kim admits. “It took a while to realize that songwriters are just people who write songs.”.
Trying to keep it country in a town like Boston can be a challenge. For a city with a huge country concert following, it’s hard to find venues where original country music is welcome. Davidson has been known to sit in with local rock bands and duos and belt out a country tune or two and she is always knocked flat by the response. “So many club owners seem to think country music will have everyone running out the door. I’m out to prove that it won’t.”
Still, rock rules the roost, and line-dancers dictate the country music scene, demanding radio covers with associated dances. “I try to make my music danceable. It’s a little abstract for mainstream country radio--a little too cranky. I am very emotion-driven, and my writing reflects that. I'm a blend of Alt-Country, Americana, Folk and Pop. I’m not conceding the possibility of mainstream radio play. I listen to country radio and love it. My music is my version of the music I love.”
To broaden her live playing opportunities, Kim has recently turned her attention to the singer-songwriter scene, working the open mike circuit, songwriters’ rounds, and starting to promote her upcoming CD release, “Free Therapy,” due out in early 2007.
“I’m always processing. This CD is about the past two years of my life, and all the ups and downs of dealing with change after change. Writing these songs was entirely cathartic, so the name was a no-brainer.”
Whatever the subject, that voice lends itself with a range and flexibility of sound that few possess, running the gamut from fragile to sultry to bring-the-house-down, and every nuance in between. In addition to singing and writing for the love of both, the singer admits she’s on a bit of a personal crusade as well: to break past age and image barriers that would all but leave her out of the running if she let them.
“At 37 I am a bit old to be breaking in,” she acknowledges. “But I think there’s something to be said for experience and seasoning. There’s no age cap on talent. Music audiences are far more diverse than most record labels allow for—you don’t have to appeal only to the youngest demographic.”
But what about the industry’s obsession with the buff bod? “I know I don’t look like Shania Twain. But most women don’t. As a consumer I would LOVE to see someone like me out there representing the real women. The big beautiful women of America want to be accounted for. Does that mean we’ll suddenly swing the majority the other way and overrun the twiglets who have historically populated the industry? I doubt it. But I love the idea of being the exception to the rule.”