Red dirt blues.
West Coast rhythm.

Nettie Freed and Daryl Hill — the Delta Boy — come from two very different corners of American music. Nettie brings the sunlit pull of West Coast folk, country and rock & roll; Daryl brings the electric language of North Alabama gospel and blues.

Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Nettie grew up in a third-generation music-business family and began traveling to Nashville in her teens to write and record. From the age of eight she was mentored by multi-instrumentalist, teacher and composer Fred Sokolow, who introduced her to the broad sweep of American music — Hank Williams, traditional folk, swing, country blues and rock & roll. Her unforgettable voice sounds like a mixture of grit and honey.

Daryl grew up in rural North Alabama, his family singing gospel and found the blues young, after seeing John Lee Hooker perform “Boogie Chillen” on television. The sound followed him to Nashville, where he moved in the 1970's, and never really left him. After years working in construction, he returned fully to music and ran Wilson County, Tennessee’s inaugural blues jam for nearly two decades. You will find the "Delta Boy" playing his slide and hand-made cigar box guitar.

They met when Daryl was doing construction work on Nettie’s house. Nettie later heard him play at a local blues jam, stepped into that world with an old guitar and a book of folk and country songs, and asked him to collaborate. The first song came quickly. So did the sound: a Western dreamer meeting a Southern bluesman, old-time songs meeting electric slide, and two musical histories finding common ground in the same room.

Their live repertoire stretches from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash through Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Bessie Smith, Nanci Griffith, Eagles and traditional American folk and blues. Originals sit naturally beside the old songs, with arrangements that leave room for Daryl’s blues phrasing and Nettie’s poetic country storytelling.

Nettie & the Delta Boy are currently working on their debut LP, a collection of original songs.