Lisa McDavid

Dream World

Take A Chance Productions

Long before Memphis, and decades prior to her growing renown across the Fort Wayne, Indiana, music scene, Lisa was a child driven by musical curiosity, absorbing sound in its purest form through faith, family, and community. Though her musical foundation was rooted in the church experience, it wasn’t confined to a single mode of expression but shaped through a wide spectrum of Christian denominations and rhythmic praise energies. Raised in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition, she was steeped in the formal structure of hymns, melodies shaped by discipline, and phrasing guided by reverence. Then her father, himself a singer with a deep love of gospel, experienced a spiritual shift that led the family into a Pentecostal church, where music wasn’t just performed — it was unleashed. Lisa states, “It was louder, more expressive, you didn’t hold back.” At the same time, Lisa was attending Catholic school, where yet another layer of musical structure and choral precision captured her sensibilities. The result was an unusually broad and immersive training ground, one that quietly prepared her to move fluidly between styles. Music wasn’t something she had to choose. It was something she inherited. Growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, that foundation was expanded through records her father played, including Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, and Ike and Tina Turner — all artists whose phrasing, emotion, and presence became part of her internal vocabulary.

In her early 40s, Lisa became a mother, one of the defining qualities of her vocal presence. Producer Danny Jones (whose career includes work with Allen Toussaint, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Al Green) knew something was special. He whisked her off to Memphis to record at Royal Studios, where Willie Mitchell first introduced the world to soul music. Writers include Lisa, Mark Paul Smith, and Danny Jones.

The title track, “Dream World,” is the first of three songs recorded there by Boo Mitchell and features vocalist Lisa backed by pianist Lester Snell; B-3 organist the Rev. Charles Hodges; guitarist Michael Toles; bassist Dave Smith; drummer Steve Potts; percussionist and string arrangements by Danny Jones; and backing vocalist Risa Rene’ Jones. On “Dream World,” Lisa notes that a dream world with her man could never come true, that he wanted more than anyone could give, as she realized he was looking for an assistant, not an equal partner, as she sings “Blue velvet sky soft as Sunday morning, kissin’ Saturday night goodnight, one star still shines brighter than the dawning, of a woman who’s seen the light. I thought I had everything I needed, until I started needing you, you wanted more than anyone could give you, when all I wanted was you…now I understand my dream world with you, could never come true, I’m a woman who’s seen the light, I’m gonna make it on my own.”

“Like A Hurricane” was written by Smith and recorded at Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana, featuring guitarist Kenny Taylor and Jones on piano, organ, bass, and percussion. It is about having to watch a lover slide into the abyss of mental health or drug addiction, as Lisa chimes “I thought I knew you well, so long together, then you started changing, like stormy weather. Wish I could slow you down, turn your storm around, blow back the black clouds, that tore the levy down. It’s all starting to feel like a hurricane, it’s all staring to feel like a hurricane, you’re driving me insane, it’s driving me insane.”

On “You Can’t Run,” written by Smith and Kent Phillips and also recorded at Sweetwater Studios with the same band lineup as above, determination mixes with desperation, as Lisa chants “Sooner or later, I’m gonna catch up to you, I’m gonna find out where you’re livin’ and what you’re tryin’ to do. Thought you were my man, ’til I saw you in the park. You were not alone, and it was way after dark. Don’t try to pretend our love could never end, you can’t run from the one who really loves you.”

“Same Old Fool” is another song written by Smith, recorded at Sweetwater Studios, and with the same lineup of musicians. The song is about a woman who keeps taking back a lover who rolls in and out of her life. She feels like a fool for hoping one day that he’ll come back for good, as Lisa moans “Time will fly through the darkest night, tears will dry in the morning light, but I’m the same old fool, I’m the same old fool for you. Can you tell me where we were, the last time you left me, I remember it well. Corner table French cafe. Said you couldn’t stay then you ran away…Someday you’ll be back again, but until then, I’ll be wondering when, will we hold each other tight, making everything all right…I’m the same old foo for you, I’m the same old fool.”

On “Getting Over You,” written by Smith and Victoria “Diamond Lil” Williams, and with the same credits as above, Lisa belts “Did you think I would fall apart, when you left me with a broken heart, listen baby, I got news for you, I had plenty good lovers to pull me through, I had a good time, I had a good time, getting over you… When it comes to love, you got a lot to learn, when you treat a woman like that, you’re the one, you’re the one, who’s gonna burn. Saying sorry don’t make it right, I had a good time getting over you.”

“Down In The Quarter” was written by Lisa, Smith, and Jones, as we enter the magical world of an all-night party in the New Orleans French Quarter. Recorded at Royal Studios, featured are pianist Snell; organist the Rev. Charles Hodges; guitarist Michael Toles; bassist Dave Smith; and Danny Jones on percussion and strings, with saxophone played by Lannie McMillan, as Lisa wails “There’s a place in the Quarter, I’m gonna take you tonight, we’re gonna get that Voodoo, and get it right, the alley cats will be there, smell the jasmine in the air, all the lights will be low, we’ll take it real slow, you’ll have the time of your life, you’ll have the time of our life, down in the Quarter, down in the Quarter.”

On “The Road To Damascus,” written by Smith and recorded at Sweetwater Studios, a woman has an epiphany on her spiritual path. Giving up greed and guilt makes room for love and faith. The song invites everyone to get on the road and experience his or her own awakening, as Lisa groans “It was a moonless night on a dusty trail, when I saw the light from beyond the pale, then I heard the voice calling my name, I knew my life would never be the same…gave up my greed and guilt, tore down the walls I built…I knew my life would never be the same, took off the mask I wore, walked out my prison door…on the road to you.”

“Rainbow Ring” is the third song recorded by Boo Mitchell, son of the late Willie Mitchell, at Royal Studios in Memphis. It is written by Lisa, Smith, and Jones and once again features superlative performances by pianist Snell; organist the Rev. Charles Hodges; guitarist Michael Toles; bassist Dave Smith; drummer Steve Potts; and percussion and string arrangements by Danny Jones. This song was written the day Lisa lost her father, the guiding light of her life. The rainbow ring around the sun was the real and spectacular inspiration for the song. The joy of hearing her father’s music “through the light of love” serves as inspiration to anyone healing through grief, as Lisa cries out “June twenty-first, the shortest night for the moon, it was the longest day. You told your queen goodnight, then you turned to the light, alone in the park, trying not to cry, when something made me look up to the sky. There was a rainbow ring, shining around the sun, it made my heart sing. Sing for you. What’s it like daddy, to feel the perfectness of God, I can only imagine. I hear your music through the light of love.”

On “You Make Me Feel,” written by Smith and Victoria “Diamond Lil” Williams and recorded at Sweetwater Studios, the band includes guitarist Taylor and organist, bassist, drummer, and percussionist Jones, as Lisa sings a song about love providing purpose to life at any age: “Don’t Look now but I’m in love with you, I didn’t see it coming, so it must be true. Looks like I’m ready to take my chances, all I got I bet it all on you. You make me feel, like I got some place to go…All my life I been waitin’ for you, now that we’re together here’s what we’re gonna do, we can tell the world to go away, we’ll come back and get it another day…you make me feel like I got some place to go, like I got a song to sing on the radio.”

On the closer, “Nowhere To Be Found,” written by Smith, the lyrics express a deep emotional struggle. The song captures feelings of desperation and longing, highlighting a state of confusion and heartache, as Lisa croons “I’m in a desperate mental state, someplace between love and hate. My baby won’t answer the phone. He left me on my own. Now I’m looking everywhere, I’m looking left, Im looking right, I’m looking everywhere, I’m looking up, I’m looking down, he’s nowhere, he’s nowhere, he’s nowhere to be found. Went to all his favorite bars, all his haunted places, had myself a couple drinks, staring at the empty faces. Now I’m looking everywhere. He’s nowhere, he’s nowhere, he’s nowhere to be found.”

The songs on “Dream World” capture the fabled soul embedded in the DNA of Lisa McDavid’s rhythm and blues. They have a marked contemporary feel. Lisa brings the fire, with great clarity and with an emotional range that veers from heartfelt to ecstatic. Now she is becoming known as “McDiva.” Hallelujah!

Richard Ludmerer

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