Los Angeles songwriter Haylie Davis doesn’t know what an egg cream and a knish are, but she’ll get there, because she recently moved to New York City and loves it.

“I visited New York City a handful of times before I moved, but, every time I visited, I fell more and more in love with the city,” says Davis, who just released a new album Wandering Star. “I just felt drawn to it more than any other city I’d been to. The stars aligned in a such a way that the path was almost paved for me to go. I found the best roommates and an amazing apartment so perfectly, and it’s actually costing me less to live here than in L.A.”

Davis loves living in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

“I’m sick of driving in California, and I love the subways, the parks and the history here,” she says. “I’ve met so many friends here already, and, in L.A., I felt relatively isolated.”

In Los Angeles, Davis, whose birth name is Haylie Hostetter, was half of the duo Will & Haylie with former partner Will Worden, and then she released her solo debut album in 2023 under the moniker Lady Apple Tree. The album sounds like a beautiful, soulful folk album from many decades ago.

“I’ve only changed my name once, from Lady Apple Tree to Haylie Davis, and I did it, because I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a specific genre my whole career,” Davis says. “Going by my name made me feel like I didn’t have to stick with folk my whole life if I didn’t want to.”

Under the Lady Apple Tree name, Davis also released a few singles, including a lovely cover of John Sebastian’s “Didn’t Want to Have to Do It.” Sebastian, a New Yorker who was one of the key figures in the groundbreaking 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene that also helped spawn electric rock and roll, sang the song on the Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 hit album Daydream.

“I found this song a long time ago listening to the Lovin’ Spoonful,” Davis explains.  “When I met my band while touring in Sylvie (the collaborative project of Southern California musician Ben Schwab) in 2023, we listened to that song on the road. Soon after, while touring with Sam Burton, we played that song in his band. It quickly gained traction, so we recorded it and released it as soon as we could.”

The 11 songs on the new album, Wandering Star, were written 2020-2024. Davis has many other songs from that time period that have yet to be recorded.

At live shows, she particularly loves to play “Born to Be Blue” and “I Was Wrong” from the album. “Generally, the live set has a lot more energy, and these songs feel more powerful live,” Davis says.

“I Was Wrong” is full of heartache.

You should know

A thing or two about love

I know what heartbreak is

I’m not saying life is fair

I thought that you would always be there

For me, oh no

I was wrong

I was wrong

I was wrong

I’m not saying life is fair

I thought that you would always be there

For me, oh no

I was wrong, no, no, no

I was wrong, no, no, no

I was wrong

Did her emotional breakup affect the songs on Wandering Star and trigger a move to New York? I ask Davis.

“My breakup with my first boyfriend happened in 2023, and a couple of those songs feel inspired from that,” she responds. “But it’s been a long time since then, and that relationship did not inspire my move.  I recently went through another breakup, but that happened after the songs were written. That one did partially inspire my move. It’s funny: I think people assume the songs that have come out are brand new, but they’ve been around for a long time. The timeline can be confusing.”

Davis traces her musical beginnings back to middle school, when she became an avid music listener. She also sang “all the time” in the shower and the car.

“In high school, I joined the choir and music ensembles and performed with them,” she says. “Eventually, I picked up guitar and learned my favorite songs. My early inspirations included the Strokes, the Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey and Mac DeMarco. It slowly matured to the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Smiths. I also grew up around a lot of country music and revisited it when I was a little older. My first music payday was when I signed with Fire Records.”

A Rolling Stone writer said Davis’s songs could fit in the 1973 time period, and her music sounds like a cross between Emmylou Harris and Linda Perhacs.

“Emmylou Harris is definitely one of my favorite vocalists, and I’ve listened to her quite a bit,” Davis says. “I love Linda Perhacs, too. Her album Parallelograms is amazing. I love ’60s and ’70s music and older. I really like music from all ages, but most of the songs I love come from that era.”

Like so many other artists, Davis says it’s very difficult to name the best album she has ever listened to.

“Joni Mitchell’s Blue has to be up there,” she adds. “It just takes me to such a specific emotional place every time I listen to it, and I feel so moved by it. It’s such a complete art piece. Lately, I’ve been really enjoying Desire by Bob Dylan. I just love how it sounds like it was recorded in one sitting. There are so many albums to choose from. My favorite song is ‘Hickory Wind’ by Gram Parsons.”

Davis believes the best concert she attended was with Sam Burton, who took her to see Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl last year.

“She sounded so good,” Davis says. “It was a very moving show, and well executed.”

The concert that influenced her most as a musician took place during her high school days.

“I honestly think it was when I saw the Last Shadow Puppets — a project of Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys — perform at The Fillmore in San Francisco when I was a late high schooler,” Davis recalls. “Alexandra Savior opened for them, and the whole night was just an incredible performance. I was so wowed, and I just wanted to be them so bad!”