There are no reedy-voiced folkie females playing prim parlor music here. The Boston-born, Nashville, Tenn.-based quartet of women called Della Mae play modern string music with muscle and intensity. Fitting that they’d open this set with “Boston Town,” the story of women’s role in the labor movement, and follow it with the propulsive wake-up call, “Rude Awakening.” “Leave it to you to make sense of the shambles you made of yourself, while I carried on,” growls the band’s primary singer Celia Woodsmith on the bluesy “Shambles.” Mandolinist Jenni Lyn Gardner’s turn at the microphone for “Good Blood” is a nice change of pace, as is guitarist Courtney Hartman’s austere approach to “Long Shadow.” Producer Jacquire King inspired the band to discover the rhythmic core of their music and the
results are exhilarating. It’s one of the better string-band records of the year.