Dailey & Vincent: Let’s Sing Some Country!

Since teaming up in 2007, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent have done a lot of good things together in rising to the bluegrass world’s upper echelon; and now, all these years later, the duo is taking a detour into full-on traditional country with predictably solid results. On 11 tunes bearing songwriter credits on the order of Vince Gill, Karen Staley, Jimmy Fortune, Steve Earle, and others, Jamie Dailey, in spectacular voice, flat puts the hurt, the heartache, and the exultation on the tales he tells, his emotive flights always hitting listeners where they live. The album-opening Staley tune, “I’ll Leave My Heart in Tennessee,” speaks to Dailey’s love for his home state’s natural majesty, and you don’t have to listen hard to get the message. There’s beauty in the balladry of “Closer to You,” humor in the boozy meditations of “If I Die A-Drinkin’,” and touching pathos in the frank testimony of a life saved by love in “You Rescued Me.” Staunch proponents of the quartet sound, D&V get an Oak Ridge Boys-style bass-heavy foursome rolling on the instructive self-help advice of “Dig a Little Deeper in the Well.” Tired of bro country? D&V are good for what ails you.