The Boston-based modern bluegrass quartet
Della Mae received a Grammy nomination for their Rounder debut, 2013's
This World Oft Can Be, their second album overall. The
Del McCoury Band won it, but the nomination showed the size of the league that
Della Mae plays in.
On this self-titled effort, they enlist veteran producer
Jacquire King (
Tom Waits,
Norah Jones,
Melissa Etheridge). Musically, they didn't need to do anything radically different -- and they don't, but there is a marked difference here. It can be attributed to the confidence that comes from playing together for six years. As a result, the songwriting and arranging have grown immensely. Adding
Mark Schatz's upright bass on this date adds not only depth, but weight and emotional heft to these songs. On "Rude Awakening," his riff-like pulse adds a near rock & roll heaviness to the meld of country gospel, blues, and bluegrass. On "Can't Go Back," he plays arco, offering a harmonic and textural counterpart to
Kimber Ludiker's fiddle and
Jenni Lyn Gardner's chunky mandolin. Lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist
Celia Woodsmith and lead guitarist/banjoist
Courtney Hartman (who also sings harmony and takes the mike on the spooky "Long Shadow") wrote these two songs (and three others) together. They are a dynamite team, intuitively aware of how to balance the group's sense of melodic adventure with their instrumental prowess and startling collective singing. They also co-authored the swinging, bluesy "Shambles" and the straight-up bluegrass number "Take One Day." There are three covers on the set as well, among them a tender, wrenching version of
the Low Anthem's "To Ohio" and a world-weary version of
the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations" with great slide guitar work from
Hartman. The closing number, "High Away Gone," though brief, contains some real experimentation with sound and texture -- the application of reverb, a skeletal banjo, droning musical saw (courtesy of
Elephant Revival's Bonnie Paine), layered harmony vocals, and
Woodsmith singing both the call-and-response parts -- and it's chilling. On this album,
Della Mae expand their roots-and-groove quotient, and extend the margins in their writing without sacrificing either the virtuosity and sparkle in their performance or the root persona in their sound. ~ Thom Jurek