The Gloria Darlings

A year is a long time to be away from home. Perhaps that’s why the Gloria Darlings looked so happy Wednesday night as they banged out a rowdy set at the Tractor Tavern.

It’s been a busy 12 months for the Darlings. They made a giant loop touring the country, including extended stops in Nashville and New Orleans. The Darlings also took time to record “Come Home to Me,” a bright collection of bluegrass tunes that you might not call traditional but are certainly not far off.

The Darlings showcased these 11 songs as they celebrated the album’s release, officially out Wednesday but available on Spotify for some time before that. The record is great, but it just doesn’t compare to hearing these songs come to life on stage. Bluegrass deserves to be played in front of a packed house.

The Tractor crowd, which swelled impressively for a Wednesday night, couldn’t help but dance as the Darlings — Melissa Jane Pandiani on vocals and guitar, and fiddler, mandolin player and singer Amelia Boksenbaum — tore through over an hour of mostly original material.

The duo with help from stand-up bass player Ben Fox got the night started off with a nice cover of Ray Price’s “You Done Me Wrong.”

They immediately showcased their impressive songwriting on the title track from “Come Home to Me,” a sweet love song that benefited from the intertwining harmonies of Pandiani and Boksenbaum, who go by Pandi and Milli on stage.

“Ghost Girl,” one of the album’s more dynamic tracks, translated well live and even elicited a chuckle from Pandiani as she sang, “Just when I resolved that it was over/that a spinster ’til my dying day I’ll be.”

Other highlights included the couple of songs that Boksenbaum sang. Her voice, slightly thin but with a surprising grit to it, worked especially well on “Music Men,” an uptempo song she wrote that featured an opening fiddle riff that once again got the crowd dancing and stomping.

Part of what made Wednesday night special for the Darlings was that they were allowed to choose the bands that joined them on the bill. In an interview on Monday, Pandiani said they tried to choose friends from the tightknit community of Seattle musicians they are a part of, which made the show all the more a homecoming.

The Josh Philpott Band, which on Wednesday consisted of Philpott and Fox on bass, took the stage first. Philpott has a pleasant voice and his country-blues sound worked well as people were still finding their way to the club.

Next up was West Virginia transplant Pepper Proud, who was having her own mini-homecoming after being in Idaho for the past two weeks. She might be diminutive but has a flamethrower for a voice. Think the smokiness of Norah Jones with the ability to absolutely belt when she wants to.

Proud sang most of the cuts off her 2012 album “Riddle & Rhymes,” including the gorgeous, whimsical “Dig.” It’s hard to categorize her sound. She’s not bluegrass or indie folk or alt-country, instead carving out her own space within Seattle’s sonic landscape.

-Owen R. Smith, on Twitter @inanedetails - The Seattle Times

It's been a busy year for The Gloria Darlings. The Seattle bluegrass duo haven't seen much of the Emerald City lately as they've been working through a heavy touring schedule, including extended pit stops in Nashville and New Orleans.

The Darlings — guitarist and lead singer Melissa Jane Pandiani and fiddler, mandolin player and vocalist Amelia Boksenbaum — did manage to spend enough time in town to record their charming new collection of (mostly) original tunes, "Come Home To Me," out June 26.

"The thought behind the album was create original music that we wrote that reflects the music we listen to," said Pandiani, who goes by Pandi. "We have a lot of DIY albums that we sell that are cover albums, so we wanted to do an album of original material."

"Come Home To Me," recorded at Empty Sea Studios in Phinney Ridge, finds the Darlings invigorated from their long trek across the country. While they're appreciative of their Seattle fans and the tight-knit bluegrass community here, Pandi said being on the road had a huge impact on the group.

"I just think we grow so much more as musicians on the road," she said. "We moved to Nashville for a month and a half last summer. We're playing with the best pickers in every town."

Standout tracks from the new record include the title track, "Ghost Girl," thrumming with dramatic and sonic tension, and the delicate "To Care About You," which uses subtle harmonies and an elegiac fiddle to great effect as the Darlings sing of love lost and found in another.

When they sing, "The way we are seems star-crossed/you shook me through and through/what I'd give to be the one who gets to cares about you," it's about as sweet a sentiment (and delivery) as you'll find in any genre. - The Seattle Times

It's been a busy year for The Gloria Darlings. The Seattle bluegrass duo haven't seen much of the Emerald City lately as they've been working through a heavy touring schedule, including extended pit stops in Nashville and New Orleans.

The Darlings — guitarist and lead singer Melissa Jane Pandiani and fiddler, mandolin player and vocalist Amelia Boksenbaum — did manage to spend enough time in town to record their charming new collection of (mostly) original tunes, "Come Home To Me," out June 26.

"The thought behind the album was create original music that we wrote that reflects the music we listen to," said Pandiani, who goes by Pandi. "We have a lot of DIY albums that we sell that are cover albums, so we wanted to do an album of original material."

"Come Home To Me," recorded at Empty Sea Studios in Phinney Ridge, finds the Darlings invigorated from their long trek across the country. While they're appreciative of their Seattle fans and the tight-knit bluegrass community here, Pandi said being on the road had a huge impact on the group.

"I just think we grow so much more as musicians on the road," she said. "We moved to Nashville for a month and a half last summer. We're playing with the best pickers in every town."

Standout tracks from the new record include the title track, "Ghost Girl," thrumming with dramatic and sonic tension, and the delicate "To Care About You," which uses subtle harmonies and an elegiac fiddle to great effect as the Darlings sing of love lost and found in another.

When they sing, "The way we are seems star-crossed/you shook me through and through/what I'd give to be the one who gets to cares about you," it's about as sweet a sentiment (and delivery) as you'll find in any genre. - The Seattle Times

The Gloria Darlings are Pandi and Milly, an enchanting folk-grass duo from Seattle, and listening to their album ‘Come Home To Me’ is like hearing the richness of history flowing through the impulse of revolution. - Folk Words

The Gloria Darlings are definitely going to make a splash on the national scene in the near future. - Popa's Tunes

The Gloria Darlings are definitely going to make a splash on the national scene in the near future. - Popa's Tunes

A very interesting album recently made its way to me, and once again I find myself enamoured with a group that was previously completely unknown to me.

Seattle’s Gloria Darlings are an old-time and long-gone country-influenced, vocal-based duo. Featuring nine original songs as well as a pair of classic country covers, the Gloria Darlings’ debut album delivers bright and lively acoustic music.

Call it bluegrassish-folk music, label it acoustiblue (please) or alt.country (does anyone use that anymore?), the Gloria Darlings have crafted an appealing collection of music that flies by in a flash.

Melissa Jane Pandiani handles most of the lead vocals and contributes all the guitar, while her partner Amelia Boksenbaum also sings while doing dual heavy lifting on fiddle and mandolin. Michael Connolly, who recorded and mixed the album, plays bass.

The album kicks off with as strong a song as I’ve heard this month: “Come Home To Me,” written by Pandiani, starts with the lines, “It’s so confusing, the way that you can spur me on; from a thousand miles away, you turn up in all my songs.” Gentle and yearning, Pandiani is at her best contemplating the complications of a relationship that has gone awry.

There are several songs here to capture listeners’ interest. “Insomniac’s Lullaby” possesses a pleasing sound, with seemingly dream-induced lyrics benefiting from nice fiddle and an especially satisfying little mando break. The protagonist of the likeable “Ghost Girl” isn’t nearly as sinister as the title might suggest—well, other than cutting down the first stranger she meets in Nashville: really, she’s just a girl from Heartache City looking for love.

The duo ably cover Ray Price’s “You Done Me Wrong” and the Louvins’—via Jim & Jesse—”Hide & Seek”, while making their own songs fresh and contextually consistent with their influences. The spirited “Jack of the Wood” as well as “Music Men” further reveal their appreciation of old-fashioned mountain music.

Boksenbaum (who goes by Milly Raccoon) is an impressive fiddler, and her work on that instrument and the mandolin provide connections to bluegrass, old-time, and traditional country that many will appreciate.

Come Home To Me may come unheralded, but with its release the Gloria Darlings are informing us that they are a duo to whom we should pay more than a passing listen. - The Lonesome Road Review

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- The Winfield Courier

“This is traditional country come home to roost. Come Home To Me will not only delight fans of the classic country genre, but it’s sure to turn a few more ears onto the real thing. It’s enough to make a girl run around her living room singing with a steep twang and want to take up the fiddle.” - IndieMusic.Com

“This is traditional country come home to roost. Come Home To Me will not only delight fans of the classic country genre, but it’s sure to turn a few more ears onto the real thing. It’s enough to make a girl run around her living room singing with a steep twang and want to take up the fiddle.” - IndieMusic.Com

I love when I am surprised by new music. Especially when it’s from a genre I don’t normally listen to. Well that happened a few years ago when I first came across the bluegrass/folk band The Gloria Darlings. Their new CD, Come Home to Me, was released on June 26, funded with a Kickstarter campaign and is 100% independent. The Gloria Darlings, Pandi and Milli, play honest, beautiful music. The harmonies cut through all of the over dubbed, crazy produced, auto tuned noise that passes as music, and all that matters is the performance.

This music makes you slow down and breathe. You stop and listen to lyrics. You allow a moment to get caught up in the simplicity of the voices, and be awed at the perfect melding of their tones. The title song “Come Home to Me” is so pure that the heartbreak in its yearning for a lost love to return will leave you wanting your own lost love to know ‘there will always be a room for you in the house that is my heart. Other standouts for me are “Insomniacs Lullaby”, “To Care About You” and “Mermaid Song”. This is true American music with violin, guitar and upright bass and all but two of the eleven songs written by Pandi and Milli. The only other time I can remember being so touched by an album such as this was the awesome collaboration of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris on Trio. In both instances it took my breath away.

The Gloria Darlings come out of Seattle, a place I hold dear to my heart. With a new music scene percolating all over that town they pierce through all of it and make themselves heard. The music can be described as old-timey but with every coffee house, bar, club and festival they play they’re adding more fans to the fold, fans that want to just hear some beautiful music and breathe. - FourCulture