Those Darlins, Those Darlins

If, at one point, the notion of combining country traditionalism with punk-rock energy was a novel concept, it's been done often enough over the last three decades that there's no longer any shock-value in the juxtaposition. Nowadays, it's just another perfectly viable mutt-like subgenre; whether it works depends on the craft and creativity of those who are playing it. In the case of Those Darlins, three twentysomething women from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the results are plenty positive. This self-titled debut album trends toward their acoustic inclinations, with tunes such as "Mama's Heart," "The Whole Damn Thing" and "Glass to You" relying primarily on the trio's core instrumentation of guitar, bass and ukulele. (Producer/player Jeff Curtin fills things out throughout with varying degrees of drums, keyboards, and even theremin.) The girls are equally comfortable cranking up the electricity, most notably on the leadoff track "Red Light Love," which blazes and thumps with an intensity reminiscent of the Ramones or classic X. Three cover tunes — two from the Carter Family songbook, one from Uncle Dave Macon — establish historical reference-points without dragging the group's sonic identity into retro rehash; on the contrary, the covers are among the most musically adventurous moments on the disc.