String bands have a long history in New Orleans going back to the days before jazz was even a thing. The NOLA String Kings are John Rankin on guitar, Matt Rhody on violin and mandolin and Don Vappie on guitar and banjo. The three musicians all have durable careers here in the city and combined they are one of the more inventive combos on the scene today.

The album features songs from the pen of each of the musicians as well as other tunes that hail from the rich history of New Orleans music with its myriad of influences, including Latin, Creole and folk. According to the album’s notes, the band is “dedicated to the idea of collective improvisation in New Orleans jazz with multiple simultaneous melodic lines.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Hoagy Carmichael’s “Riverboat Shuffle” is a prime example. The cut opens with Rhody and Rankin trading lines and then playing in harmony. Vappie comps in the background providing a solid grounding for the duration of the tune. The band’s version of Sidney Bechet’s “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere” is another standout song exposing the group’s approach.

On first listen, the vocal cuts following the first two sterling instrumentals came across as a distraction to my ears, but both Vappie’s “Blue Book of Storyville” (a reprise of the title cut from his most recent solo outing), and Rankin’s “Hot Sauce” provide moments of lyrical levity. Digging deeper into the record and you discover Rhody’s wistful vocal take on his original “Crescent City Moonwalk,” a personal favorite from his performances with the Hot Club of New Orleans.

The NOLA String Kings have delivered a fine product, recorded right before the plague shutdown began. It shimmers with instrumental prowess, has a strong vocal presence and offers something for virtually every listener with ears for music rooted in the past but very much of the present.