Bryn Davies
Bass
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Bryn Davies is a bassist, cellist, and occasional pianist who somehow manages to split her time between high-energy stages and high-security facilities. A Livermore, California native, she headed east in 1994 to study Jazz Performance at Berklee College of Music.
In 1997, Bryn landed in Austin, Texas, where she hit the road with Peter Rowan and Tony Rice and quickly became a go-to voice in the Bluegrass and Americana worlds. By 2004 she’d moved on to Nashville, earning a reputation as the “songwriter’s–songwriter bassist” and carving out a unique niche accompanying artists whose craft others aspire to. Onstage or in the studio, Bryn’s playing supported celebrated musicians, including The Tony Rice Unit, Patty Griffin, Darrell Scott, Justin Townes Earle, Scott Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Guy Clark, and Jack White.
Life took a fun plot twist in 2011 when she met her husband, bassist Vince Ilagan, and eventually moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. After starting a family, Bryn did the unthinkable: she put music on pause and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, finishing in 2019 and 2024. Today, she ensures things stay safely sub-critical as a nuclear safety engineer at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN.
Even with a day job that literally involves keeping things from blowing up, Bryn still can’t resist returning to the stage. She continues to tour with the Darrell Scott Electric Trio (with Jeff Sipe) and the Darrell Scott String Band (with Matt Flinner and Shad Cobb), proving that whether it’s neutrons or notes, she knows exactly how to keep everything in perfect balance.
