As Awards Roll In, Dailey & Vincent Prep 2nd Album, Hit The Road, And Teach You Harmony Too

Jamie Dailey (left) and Darrin Vincent: 'We really feel like we've found a great variety of material—songs that fit us and what we've done, while taking several steps forward,' Vincent says of the award-winning duo's second album, due in stores on March 31.

After a fabulous 2008, a year that found them named IBMA Entertainers of the Year en route to winning an unprecedented seven International Bluegrass Music Awards, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent—Dailey & Vincent in their professional guise—are gearing up for a busy 2009.

First up, on March 31, will be the release of the duo's self-produced second album for Rounder, titled Brothers From Different Mothers.

"We've been working extremely hard over the last couple months to finish recording, mixing and mastering this new record, in between tour dates," Vincent said in a Rounder release from mid-December. "We really feel like we've found a great variety of material—songs that fit us and what we've done, while taking several steps forward."

Dailey & Vincent's self-titled debut, released a year ago this month, topped the Billboard Bluegrass Chart in June and topped the Bluegrass Unlimited National Bluegrass Survey album chart for three consecutive months. In December it had returned to the top of the Bluegrass Music Profiles chart, a spot it had also occupied in August and November.

More awards may be on the horizon, too. The duo has received nine SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards nominations for the awards show to be held on February 15 at the Music City Sheraton in Nashville: Bluegrass Album of the Year (for Dailey & Vincent), Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year (Darrin Vincent), Male Vocalist of the Year/Contemporary (Jamie Dailey), Gospel Group of the Year/Contemporary, Vocal Group of the Year, Bluegrass Band of the Year Overall, Song of the Year ("By the Mark"), Entertaining Group of the Year and Entertainer of the Year (Jamie Dailey).

Needless to say, the road beckons in '09. A full year of shows is posted at www.daileyvincent.com/schedule.php and at www.myspace.com/thedaileyvincentband

Also, while awaiting D&V’s  new album, check out their new instructional DVD, Bluegrass and Gospel Duet Singing: Old Time Country Harmony, on Homespun Tapes (http://www.homespuntapes.com/shop). The fellows perform, demonstrate and analyze some of their most requested songs, including “By the Mark,” “Can You Hear Me Now,” “More Than a Name On a Wall,” “Music of the Mountains,” “Rock of Ages,” “Selfish Heart,” “Waves of Sorrow” and “Don’t You Call My Name.” They take you inside their craft, discussing their approach to harmony singing, breaking down their technique and leading the viewer in lead and harmony parts. You have to figure out how to win all those awards yourself.

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From TheBluegrassSpecial.com, April 2008:

DAILEY & VINCENT
Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent
Rounder

Bluegrass veterans Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent well know they could have drawn from a deep well of treasured songs for their much anticipated debut album. Instead, they decided to dig a new well and fill it with contemporary songs worthy of comparison to the ancient tones. Dailey, who has done yeoman work as the lead tenor in Doyle Lawson's Quicksilver, and Vincent (yes, Rhonda's brother and co-producer), a stalwart of Ricky Skaggs's Kentucky Thunder, couldn't have come out of the chute with a stronger debut. The lone chestnut they cover, "Don't You Call My Name," from the Johnson Mountain Boys, gets a spirited treatment that allows for a rowdy fiddle solo from Stuart Duncan, some breathtaking speed-picked banjo work courtesy Joe Dean, and scintillating, high lonesome vocal tradeoffs between Dailey and Vincent. Duncan, Dean, Andy Leftwich (fiddle), Jeff Parker (harmony vocal, mandolin), Byron Sutton and Cody Kilby (guitars) give Dailey and Vincent exemplary instrumental support throughout (the twin fiddles pining away on the Jimmy Fortunate-penned spiritual "I Believe" are as heart tugging as their moaning is artfully executed), but some of the most effective moments here find the duo stripping it down to their voices accompanied by guitar (Dailey) and mandolin (Vincent). Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' mountain gospel gem, "By the Mark," benefits most from this spare approach, as the two stringed instruments play a steady rhythm and pointed solos behind the two artists' fervent, layered vocal attack; less solemn and foreboding, "Music of the Mountains" is a buoyant reminiscence of the old homestead made doubly resonant by the duo's casual front porch picking and genial vocalizing. Closing with a jubilant, full band, southern gospel four-part harmony workout on "Place On Calvary," Dailey & Vincent punch their ticket for a long ride. People get ready.—David McGee