Sunday Night Is for Your Soul: Natalie, Diva Songbird and Kev Powe Thang Continue to Draw Community

ALEXANDRIA, VA — It’s a cold, cold world, but on Sundays at 219 Restaurant, we can all feel a little closer together.

A few months ago, I wrote one of my first articles for The Zebra about Natalie Phillips, known as Diva Songbird, and Kev Powe Thang. On Sunday night, I was reminded why.

Natalie has a blessed voice, and Kev and the band have a sound that reminds you that you are alive.

In a world that has become so digital, where so many of us are feeling a little alone, 219 offers a refuge for people who want to feel a sense of community.

Whether you wander in solo, come with a date or arrive with a group of friends, you are met by an atmosphere that seems to say: Leave the world and all your troubles outside.

Listen to the music. Talk to your neighbor. Be a human.

A Sunday Night Refuge

219 Basin Street lounge is a cigar bar, and the atmosphere can be smoky, but there is also a hidden crow’s nest upstairs that offers a great view, bumping sound and usually a little clearer air.

Sunday was no different. In the few hours I spent listening to “Purple Rain” and the rest of the set, I met a young jewelry designer on a hot date, a father of three and a traveling couple from Iowa in town for the Snap-on Tools convention.

We shared very little in common except a love of music and a desire for connection, and that was enough.

One of the other things I really enjoy about Kev’s band is that he is always bringing in new musical talent, creating a one-of-a-kind experience each time you see them. On Sunday, the band included saxophonist Mike Paxton, drummer Cornell Webb, bass player Irvin Madden and keyboard player Patrick Cooper, who also releases his own jazz music.

What is it about the saxophone that makes you fall in love? What is it about a saxophone that says the things you just don’t know how to say?

The Voice Behind Diva Songbird

I also got the chance to talk with Natalie and hear a little more about the incredible journey that brought her to that stage.

Music has been part of her story for a long time. While attending Western High School, Natalie won the All City All State vocal competition under the direction of the late Audrey McCallum, singing “Climb Every Mountain.”

Years later, while singing with her former motorcycle band under the late bass player Keith “LoKei” Grissom, she met Kevin. As Natalie remembers it, he saw something in her that she did not yet know she could do.

Her life offstage is just as busy. Natalie is the Operations Manager for the Morgan State Police Department, working directly under the chief of police and overseeing a daunting range of responsibilities.

But there was a time when Natalie didn’t know whether she would ever stand on a stage and sing again.

After becoming seriously ill with COVID, bilateral pneumonia and a blood staph infection, Natalie ultimately underwent lung surgery in 2021.

She didn’t know if she would ever be able to walk, let alone sing again.

But she did.

“Keep Singing Until I Can’t”

The experience changed the way Natalie thinks about her voice and the people who come to hear her. She no longer takes it for granted when someone tells her that her music means something to them.

There was also someone especially important encouraging her to keep going.

Before Natalie’s sister passed away in September 2023, she told her, “Not everyone gets to get paid for sharing a gift from God and love doing it.”

She told Natalie to keep singing until she couldn’t anymore.

“She was my biggest fan,” Natalie said. “I saw her for the last time sitting next to me at Basin two weeks before she passed away. I sing from my heart even when I am exhausted or have some aches and pains.”

That history gives another dimension to what happens when Natalie takes the stage today. She understands that sometimes the person listening needs the song more than she could possibly know.

And sometimes, she finds out.

One night, a man who had lost his mother knelt down in front of Natalie and cried after she sang a song his mother had loved. He thanked her and told her how deeply it had touched him.

Another woman, living with an illness that had caused her hair to thin, approached Natalie after hearing her sing, told her she had touched her heart and hugged her.

“I just want people to smile from within when they leave more than when they arrived,” Natalie told me.

No Longer a Stranger

Maybe that is why 219 feels the way it does on Sunday nights.

“Everyone has just become family,” Natalie said. “I tell everyone that after they stop in one time, they are now part of our family. They are no longer a stranger.”

Her voice, almost like an enchantment, draws people in for a kind of medicine they didn’t know they needed. It was her voice that drew me in off the street all those months ago, and opened up a new set of friendships and conversations.

Always pushing for more, the band continues to add new songs to its set list while building a growing crowd of regulars.

But you don’t have to be a regular, and you don’t have to know anyone to fit in.

All you need is an open mind and an open heart.

There Is Always Room for More

I think one of the best things about 219 is that owner Patty Charoentra is usually on-site. While she keeps a low profile, she can often be found downstairs, keeping her finger on the pulse of everything going on.

I’ve started to make it a habit to duck in and say goodnight on my way out.

This time, she was excited to tell me about an upcoming event on September 11, when the Myles Deep Band will be playing. They have a loyal following and, from what I can glean, are something to be excited about. I put the date on my calendar, and provided I can find childcare for the evening, will be there.

And while Natalie has got my heart, there is always room for more.

Because Sunday night at 219 is for your soul.