When Sara and Maybelle Carter, along with A. P. Carter, forged the foundation of country and roots music they rendered the question of women’s impact in the genre moot.
Della Mae build on that legacy, by not just being a band of pretty faces, but being cracker jack musicians with a keen sense of legacy and modern style. Singer Celia Woodsmith, guitarist Courtney Hartman, bassist Shelby Means, and mandolin player Jenni LynGardner each bring diverse, individual backgrounds to form the Bluegrass-inspired Empire.
The video for Empire doesn’t fool with high concepts. The band is shown displaying their considerable chops in this spirited, Woodsmith-penned lament about a mining town turned ghost town in the wake of company abandonment. Withe the performance the band draws not only from classic roots music subject matter, but from the it’s deep musical well.
Della Mae recorded their Rounder Records debut, This World Oft Can Be at Cash Cabin Studio, Johnny Cash’s former recording base, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Look or it on May 28th and tour dates soon after.
Great stuff. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re gorgeous.
it does not!