Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 30, 2020

Delta Rae may be proof positive of that old adage that "the family that plays together, stays together", since this appealing kinda sorta Countryish Americana band features three siblings from the Hölljes* family, Ian, Eric and Brittany (along with a retinue of what I'm assuming are their BFFs). Delta Rae probably doesn't explore any amazingly innovative or new territory, but the musical landscapes it does cover are frequently evocative and homespun, and there is that undeniable quality known as "blood harmony" running through many of their tunes. This release combines live concert footage culled from performances at the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh, North Carolina, along with cutaways that I'd liken more to music videos. The result may be a bit on the "arty" side for some more ardent and potentially straight laced country music fans, but the music should appeal to anyone who likes some of the new hybrid sounds that have been emerging in the contemporary country scene for years.

*Some online sources feature an umlaut in the siblings' surname, but there is none in the insert booklet which lists the band's personnel.

The concert's set list includes:

• 1. Take Me There
• 2. Holding on to Good
• 3. Outlaws
• 4. Out of the Badlands
• 5. Country House
• 6. Surrounded
• 7. Pay No Rent
• 8. Any Better Than This
• 9. Wrong Ocean
• 10. If I Loved You
• 11. Morning Comes
• 12. Bottom of the River
• 13. The Chain
• 14. Dance in the Graveyards

Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Delta Rae: Back to Carolina is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cleopatra Records with an MPEG-2 encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is another release from Cleopatra that features the older compression regimen (as well as lossy audio, as outlined below). Compression does encounter some difficulties here on occasion, with some pretty rough looking moments that can clump and/or pixellate, though that said, some of the anomalies like a noisy appearance seem to be part of some odd stylistic choices at times. Both the kind of cool sepia toned live performance footage as well as some interestingly graded color work out and about have decent detail levels, but, again, the stylistic flourishes can tend to keep fine detail at arm's length.

Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It continues to boggle my mind that Cleopatra releases concert fare and other music related titles with only lossy audio, but this is another release sporting only Dolby Digital tracks, in either 5.1 or 2.0 (for the record, no pun intended, there's no Audio option on the Main Menu, but it is possible to toggle between the surround and stereo tracks with the Audio button on your remote). As I've stated with regard to some previous Cleopatra releases that follow this probably unfortunate "tradition", there's nothing inherently wrong with either of these tracks, but there is no doubt that lossless audio could have upped both the overall clarity and (probably especially) the midrange and low end punch of some of the rhythm accompaniments. My score above is indicative of my long held belief that Blu-ray discs should have at least one lossless audio option, and that's something I feel is especially true of contemporary concert fare.

Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Slideshow (1080i; 3:10)

Trailers for other releases from Cleopatra are also offered on the Blu-ray disc. Additionally, a DVD and CD of the concert are also included, and there's an insert booklet in the DigiPack with personnel information and quite a few stills.

Delta Rae: Coming Home to Carolina Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Delta Rae is an appealing band that offers some nice vocal harmonies and at least at times kind of jangly, rootsy accompaniments. Unfortunately, they're not perfectly served by the technical limitations of this Blu-ray, but fans may want to check it out in any case.