Say Darling will be rattling the rafters at The Burren on Friday, May 18.

By Blake Maddux

Over the past 15 years, Celia Woodsmith has played in several folk, rock ‘n’ roll, and bluegrass bands. One of them, Della Mae, received a Grammy Nomination for their 2013 album, The World Oft Can Be.

Chris Hersch is a former member of Girls Guns and Glory, who won the 2011 Boston Music Award for Americana Artist of the Year.

Although they had known each other for many years, it was not until 2016 that the two decided to join forces and form Say Darling.

In naming the artists whose music the band enjoys performing and is inspired by, Woodsmith says, “Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, Patsy Cline. If that was sort of all swirled together, I think that’s sort of what you would hear.” The band – which also includes Scott Coulter (Hammond B-3 organ), Paul Chase (bass), and Jared Seabrook – released a self-titled seven-song EP last year.

Woodsmith is from Vermont and has lived in Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine, where she currently resides. She spoke to The Somerville Times by phone ahead of Say Darling’s May 18 show at The Burren, where she says she “used to play every Wednesday night for three years.”

The Somerville Times: How did you and Chris Hersch meet?

Celia Woodsmith: We really met one another just jamming in basements and jamming in bars in Boston. I remember jamming with him 10 years ago in some Boston or Somerville gross basement, thinking to myself, “Man, we really like a lot of the same things” and knowing that I really loved to play music with him. It was a timing thing and a friend-group thing, and I’m so grateful that it happened.

TST: Were you or he in Della Mae or Girls Guns and Glory at the time?

CW: We met actually before Chris got into Girls Guns and Glory, and I want to say a little bit before I got into Della Mae. We met at a time when we were both sort of searching around for our thing, you know, with a capital T.

TST: Why did you the two of you decide to form Say Darling when you did?

CW: Chris left [Girls Guns and Glory] about two-and-a-half years ago now, and I slowed down with Della Mae. I’d been travelling over 220 days a year with Della Mae. I think Chris had been travelling just as much or more than that. So honestly, when I took this break I was looking for something a little bit different and to kind of get back to where I started in Boston and what I thought originally my career might be in, which was rock ‘n’ roll and blues. I never ever saw myself getting into the bluegrass scene. The bluegrass scene just sort of found me, and of course I love it and I feel like I’ve been successful in it. However, the opportunity to play with electric instruments again was really intriguing and I’m so glad that Chris was also sort of searching for something to do, and we thought, “Why not start an electric band?”

TST: How did Paul Chase, Jared Seabrook, and Scott Coulter become members?

CW: I had actually played in a band with Paul and Jared when I first moved to Boston, and the band was called Hey Mama. I performed with that band for probably two years and then went into Della Mae. When I came back out of Della Mae, we were looking for a bass player and a drummer and I said, “I know just the guys!” And then Chris brought in Scott Coulter. Scott actually lives in Philly and he commutes up for the shows, which I’m so grateful for because Scott is kind of a rare musician in that he doesn’t really have a lot of ego in his playing. He’s really, quite honestly, one of the only musicians I’ve met who purely plays for the love of music. I mean, I have an ego, Chris has an ego. When you’re a front person, you kind of tend to operate like that. Watching Scott play is almost liberating because you’re like, “Wow, you are doing this 100% for the love of what you’re doing right in this moment.”

TST: Will you be working with Della Mae or anyone else this year?

CW: Yeah. I’m doing probably one week a month with Della Mae. And then I’m doing quite a bit of stuff with Say Darling this month. I’ll also be doing a little bit of work with another sort of bluegrass quartet called Walsh/Woodsmith Quartet. So I’ve got three things in the works. Walsh/Woodsmith is sort of like a twice-a-year thing, Say Darling is probably a couple of times a month, and Della Mae is the one that I tour the most with.

TST: Do you ever play solo gigs?

CW: Every once in while I do a solo show. I’m going to be releasing a solo record of just my songs and my sort of concepts later in the year. I’m probably actually going to use Say Darling to tour that since they have the exact instrumentation that I used on my album.

TST: What will Say Darling be playing at The Burren in addition to the songs from the EP?

CW: Well, we do have quite a few other original tunes that I’ve written over the years that we also play. Some of the stuff I’ve played with Della Mae, we’ve rearranged to fit a rock band. We do quite a few original tunes, but we also have a lot of covers that we love. Honestly, we go the range between Tom Waits, we do some Texas swing, some Bob Wills, we do some jazz types of tunes. So we’re kind of all over the board, but it’s got that base of sort of blues rock ‘n’ roll.

TST: Do you every hold your Grammy nomination over the heads of your bandmates?

CW: (laughs) No! I thought my life would maybe change a little bit more than it had after we got that. Though it is sort of a feather in your cap, it doesn’t really change that much about booking shows. It is kind of a nice tag line to have. Maybe more people would look at an email if you put that up right in front. I guess it has sort of made me want to work harder, because I’ve been to the Grammys and maybe one day I can go back and take it home!

Say Darling with The Carleans. Friday, May 18. The Burren, 247 Elm St. Doors at 6, show at 7. $14 in advance, $18 day of show.