Suburbanoid: The Hippie Sound Healer Bringing Meditative Music to SoCal

Southern California has long been famed for its embrace of alternative health movements. Perhaps that is why Jim Trotta Davis, better known as Suburbanoid, settled here. Davis has lived across the country, but found that Ojai, CA offered the perfect home for his 60s-inspired drone compositions.

“The easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin listening,” Alan Watts, a hippie guru, said. It’s among Davis’ favorite quotes, and the guiding philosophy for his music-and-art project, which aims to promote meditation in Southern California. Davis performs “sound baths” — ambient, improvised musical suites played on instruments from the guitar and piano to the sitar, singing bowls, and a Turkish stringed instrument called the baǧlama (pronounced ‘bah-la-mah’).

In keeping with his Wattsian philosophy, Davis hopes that his performances can help listeners become more aware of their senses. “The sound is what gives you a point to focus on,” he told LAPost.com. “A lot of times when I start the sound bath meditation, I'll start with asking everyone to close their eyes, even though we might be on a mountaintop or somewhere else that’s beautiful. I just want for them to close off that sense, and to bring their attention to the sense of hearing.”

Born in New York, Davis grew up and learned to play music in the Five Boroughs. He lived in New Orleans for a stint with his wife, Bettie Davis. There, the couple constructed their “home-on-wheels,” a school bus named Rocket, which was converted to run on vegetable oil and what they consider to be their central work of art.

It was there that Bettie began playing music alongside Jim. “Really, she was instrumental, because she started creating the drones,” says Jim. “I would give her notes on the accordion to play, and I'd say ‘play that drone on these notes.’ And I would start playing the bowed guitar on top of that. And that's really how that whole album started and that's how I really got into it.”

Their time in the Big Easy was not to last. Jim, Bettie, and Rocket fled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They went first to Austin, where they stayed for a year. Then, the couple embarked on a tour of the American West, to Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, playing shows along the way. 

Eventually, they arrived on the shores of Santa Barbara, where they lived for three years before settling in Ojai. “They say that Ojai either takes you in, or spits you out,” says Jim. “In our case, it took us in. They remain there to this day.

Jim is self-taught. He began playing the piano at the age of nine, inspired by hobbyist family members. Since then, he has refrained from engaging in any sort of pre-set curriculum. “I would try to just play and see what comes out of me,” he said. While this was a purposeful choice in the early days, it has become more of a practical way of staying engaged with his music.

He cites a diverse array of inspirations. Brian Eno is the obvious precursor to his understated style, but he also feels the influence of sitarist Ravi Shankar and German Space Rocker Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Jim recorded a collaboration with the latter in 2017.

The result is a singular sort of sound — deeply calming, but with tensions which rise and fall. It is meditative, but at the same time somehow primordial, otherworldly and also familiar. Some tracks have full suites of instrumentation, of the kind that might be found on an Eno record. Others are minimal, featuring only singing bowls or a drone.

Bettie has now taken a step back from the musical side of the Suburbanoid project. Today, she focuses primarily on the merchandise: tie-dyed clothing, album covers, and objects which come with Suburbanoid albums. She also makes baked goods, which she sees as her primary artistic endeavor.

Jim, for his part, performs sound baths every Sunday on Meditation Mount in Ojai, as well as on Fridays at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. His first Los Angeles performance will take place on a Venice rooftop, under the full moon on Oct. 17. His latest release, titled Peace Chant, is available on streaming.