Album Review: Dailey & Vincent – Dailey & Vincent

After collaborating on “Beautiful Star of Bethlem” for a bluegrass Christmas album a few years ago, it couldn’t be stopped; they knew they wanted to work together again and now Jaime Dailey and Darrin Vincent have come together to release their self-titled debut album. Dailey comes to the group by way of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, where he spent nine years serving the band as lead vocalist. Vincent, the younger brother of Rhonda Vincent, arrives via a decade long tenure with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. Rookies they are not, and together, they have been racking up accolades even before the release of their album.

After hearing the blistering pace of “Sweet Carrie,” the song that starts the album off, you begin to get the impression that the accolades aren’t unfounded hype. When setting out on this project, the duo wanted to revive the vanishing bluegrass tradition of brother duets, and while I can’t judge the album based on that, the sound they have achieved is superb and steeped in traditional bluegrass arrangements and harmonies.

“More Than A Memory On The Wall” revives an old Statler Brother hit that finds a mother at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial reflecting on the loss of her son to the war. It serves as a poignant reminder of the costs of war as Dailey & Vincent turn in a stirring performance that showcases the tight harmonies that are so prominent throughout the album. The beautifully sparse rendition of “By The Mark” is the first gospel track on the album. It scales back the production to evince the impressive vocals and has already become the most requested bluegrass song on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The pace picks up again on “Poor Boy Workin’ Blues” as a wickedly rollicking banjo and fiddle vie for attention. It was written by Dailey himself and recorded while with Quicksilver, but the performance here easily eclipses the original. The theme of workin’ all night and workin’ all day is evocative of the recent Kenny Chesney/George Strait single, “Shiftwork,” but as the duo shows here, the performance doesn’t have to be boring to get the point across.

“I Believe,” a song professing the duo’s belief in Christ, rides on their powerful vocals to beget yet another marvelous performance. The album closes with two gospel quartet numbers, “Place On Calvary” and a bonus, “Do You Want To Go To Heaven When you Die,” the first of which revisits another song recorded by The Statler Brothers. The final quartet number is a delightfully infectious track that I can’t find enough good things to say about.

Dailey & Vincent don’t strive to achieve anything groundbreaking on this album–it’s just straight up bluegrass with mostly ordinary songs–and while normally that might adversely affect the quality of an album, the striking manner in which they masterfully perform this collection of songs elevates this album to another level. The vocal and instrumental performances throughout the album are excellent and the harmonies and timing are nearly perfect. Simply put, it’s thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.