She specializes in locating the dark, country heart of a variety of musics, from 19th- century folk songs to a startling cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Her strong, smoky, sexy alto voice unifies these elements, allowing her to physically inhabit the songs. It’s a voice perfectly suited to this collection of songs about fear and desire, allure and danger. There are the raven-haired drunkard’s daughters who hitch their lives to rusty El Dorados; a rock-a-billy plea to someone holding on too tight and the bluegrass-fused honky-tonk strut of a woman who sets out on a damned dog-eared plan to break her own heart. There’s no arguing about what DeLisle wants when she says, “Right now,” and her pronunciation of “Texas” is an invitation to more than dance.
Iron Flowers
