Drafts of cold air could even be felt back by the bar area at Famous Dave's in Calhoun Square, where Davina Sowers finally sat down following her fifth or sixth hour of performance in a 14- or 15-hour span.

"There actually is a method to this madness," she said, referring to her band Davina & the Vagabonds' busy winter schedule.

You'd think a woman who moved here from Key West, Fla., would choose not to leave her house this time of year unless it was to get on a plane headed south. Instead, the booming-voiced singer/pianist played four gigs around town over the past week with her bouncy, guitarless blues quintet. She and the guys have 17 more booked between now and the end of February.

"It's good for me to get out even when it's like this outside, because I'm the poster child for melancholy women," Sowers, 29, quipped. There's a more pressing reason for her insanely hectic calendar, though: "I decided I'm gonna make a go of it for at least one solid year," she said firmly.

Sowers made a big splash at Duluth's Bayfront Blues Festival in 2006 and has been riding a growing wave ever since. She quit her waitress job at Applebee's last year. This year, she's performing at a variety of places in different parts of the metro area, and she mixes up her musical styles at each place -- i.e., a jazzier set at the Dakota or Rossi's, a bluesier set at Famous Dave's or the Narrows.

Two things remain consistent: her throaty voice, which has a sort of hard-mattress comfort to it that's part Bonnie Raitt, part Etta James and a little Amy Winehouse, and her band's rollicking New Orleans flavor, driven home by dueling horn players and a bayou-thick standup bass.

Margaret Andrews, Star Tribune
Davina Sowers of 'Davina and the Vagabonds'

That bassist, Michael Carvale, is the guy to thank for bringing Sowers to Minnesota. He met her while performing in Key West with the Lamont Cranston Band, with whom she made her first few appearances after moving here three years ago.

"She came up here in the bitter cold of February, and the first gigs she went to were one in Fargo and another at the VFW Hall in Hibbing," he recalled. "And she stayed anyway."

Sowers actually grew up in industrial Altoona, Pa., where her mom's fourth husband (her adopted father) got her hooked on old blues and jazz recordings that he played on his vintage Victrola record player.

"I also got way into bands like Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy and Front 242," she admitted, looking down at her tattooed arms under a head of jet-black hair.

In Key West, Sowers spent several years busking on the streets with a guitar, playing to tourists for tips. The Vagabonds are her first band, a point that's hard to believe when you see her confidently fronting them. They've already recorded two albums, both of which include cover tunes -- ranging from "Hey Good Lookin'" and "I'd Rather Go Blind" to way-oldies like "St. James Infirmary" -- but are loaded more heavily with original songs, about nine or 10 per CD.

"That's one good thing about living here instead of Key West," Sowers said, smirking. "I sort of have to be cooped up to write and be creative. Obviously, I get a lot more of that here."

Or she used to, anyway.