Della Mae performs for CHIRP for the first time on Tuesday, June 2, at 7 p.m.
Grammy nominated for Best Bluegrass Album for its 2013 release This World Oft Can Be, the ensemble that comprises Della Mae has been in constant demand since it released its first album in 2011. In addition to playing every major bluegrass festival in the United States the last few years, the band has been a favorite cultural ambassador of the U.S. State Department’s American Music Abroad program. In 2014 it went to 15 countries on the department’s behalf, connecting with people who may not have known a lot about American culture but who relished its music nonetheless.
The band performs for CHIRP for the first time on Tuesday, June 2, at 7 p.m., hopefully in Ballard Park, but in the event of rain, St. Stephen’s Church. This concert has been generously underwritten by a New Jersey friend of CHIRP, William Leventon.
Since the group’s formation in 2009 through the efforts of Kimber Ludiker, who plays fiddle, the Boston-bred, Nashville-based ensemble has attempted to use music as a unifying force. All four members are vocalists as well as instrumentalists and have a high, bright level of energy that is quickly communicated through their performance. The band’s newest CD, called Della Mae, was just released in April and is, like the one before it, earning accolades from critics across the country. While steeped in tradition, the music is original composition and seeks to convey the ensemble’s expansive musical vision with a very contemporary sensibility that is reminiscent of other roots-conscious acts, such as the Avett Brothers, Punch Brothers and Lumineers.
Della Mae is Celia Woodsmith, lead vocals and guitar, Kimber Ludiker, fiddle and vocals, Jenni Lyn Gardner, mandolin and vocals, and Courtney Harman, guitar, banjo and vocals. If you’ve never heard them, don’t miss them. If you have, we are confident you will be there to enjoy them again.
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