By Sean O' Driscoll

If traditional Irish music in the U.S. is to become anything other than a museum piece, it needs people like Ashley Davis.

Her show at the Living Room in Manhattan on Monday night showed how best to blend modern pop sensibilities with a pure traditional sound, while still managing to have a laugh.

The former lead singer for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance during its Vegas run, Davis broke free to record her own album and explore a more authentic version of Irish traditional culture.

With a master’s degree Irish music from the University of Limerick, she has taken the best of what she has learned and mixed it with lush vocal arrangements for a show that thankfully breaks free from the constraints of the traditional Irish music scene.

With a fiddler, a guitar player, a flutist and a pianist on back up, Davis’ show flies through an hour, each song introduced by a long and often hilarious story of how the lyrics were written.

When her brother asked for Irish music for his wedding, she told him she did the whole range of Irish traditional songs — drinking, heartache, rebellion — which one did he want? After realizing the limitations, she spread out a list of traditional Irish greetings and composed a haunting melody called “Beannachti” with days to spare before the wedding.

Before introducing “Rathlin Rant” inspired by a forlorn love tale Davis found on Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland, she says that women in traditional songs were never allowed to say “f*** you!” “Well, they can now!” she says, to cheers from the female members of the audience.

She breaks into a song about lost love that is reminiscent of the best of Clannad or Moving Hearts, before ending with the traditional reel, “The Broken Pledge.”

Pretty soon it’s back to more storytelling, this time about a traditional music friend from the Limerick/Kerry border who rang every Pig and Whistle venue in New York complaining that they shouldn’t allow a pig to play the tin whistle if she was going to perform in the venue. It leads into one of Davis’ most powerful tracks, “Down By the Sea,” from her debut album.

Overall, a great hour’s entertainment and, if there is any justice, Ashley Davis’ name is about to explode onto the Irish music scene.

Check out her website, daisyrings.com, for upcoming shows and details of her debut album Closer to You.