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Dailey & Vincent do the Statler Bros.; a quick review
The announced mission of the duo formed by Jamie Dailey and Darren Vincent (yes, Rhonda's brother) was to keep alive the storied tradition of the brother duos who at one point formed the backbone of country music: the Monroes, the Delmores, the Louvins (and the Stanleys, and the McReynolds, and the Blue Sky Boys, and...).
Their fourth long player in two years, Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, appears not on their principal label (Rounder), but in one of those side deals that are an increasing curiosity and, perhaps, necessity. It is released by and through Cracker Barrel restaurants, an old home-style restaurant chain which reaches into 41 U.S. states.
At virtually any other moment in my writing career, I would now take a paragraph to lambaste the artists for selling out. Reconciled as I am to the vicissitudes of freelance life and the difficulties of translating one's creative impulses into food, I will pass on that, noting only that these releases were troubling to contemplate when we had a print magazine and a formal review section. Do we cover them? Do we review the Time-Life compilations, which they began sending out for comment? I dunno.
Nor do I know why this particular album rose up off the chair and into my truck, except that I knew that it would at least be good enough to get me out to the farm and back. Which it was. But I'll probably not play it again.
Here, I think, are the problems:
(1) The Statler Brothers were a quartet. Dailey and Vincent are a duo, and a good one. Now, they've augmented themselves with three other vocalists -- Jeff Parker, Joe Dean, and Jeff Pearls -- though the credits do not make clear who sings what part on which songs. But there is something different, particularly, I suspect, in ensemble singing, between coming together and learning parts in the studio and singing so often that one intuitively knows where each other voice will and should fall.
(2) The songs don't swing. The bluegrass ornaments are fine, and better than fine, but they feel like ornaments and not like integral parts of the songs. But mostly the vocalists are unable to come close to the easy confidence with which the Statlers presented their music, and they don't...swing. I mean, there's no other way to say it, really. I listen to music students play jazz every Friday afternoon, and they don't swing either. But as the old aphorism goes, it don't mean a thing if it doesn't have that swing. Or however that went.
(3) The Statler Brothers were really, really good. And if you like these songs (and I do, for the most part), you can hear the originals in your head and judge these faithful covers against them. And the covers will always lose. Every time. The high parts don't have the edge, the low parts don't have the gravity, and the middle parts don't...well...swing. And yet, as music, it is without flaw. It's just also without feeling, no matter that Dailey & Vincent grew up (as many of us did) listening to the Statlers, no matter that they were among those who sung the Statlers into the Country Music Hall of Fame. What one walks away from this disc thinking is, wow, the Statlers were really, really good because Dailey & Vincent are really good, and their covers aren't a patch on the originals.
(4) The covers are too faithful. There are no surprises. This will be a minor quibble, but why not at least update "The Class of '57" to "The Class of '67"? It's a surpassingly sad song about life wearing one down, about settling for what's possible, about the dimunition of dreams and goals. But the class of '57, by my math, is well retired now. The class of '67 is hard against these truths, and struggling with them. (As is my class, of '77, but I don't think it sings as well.) Again, I quibble, but my point is simply that the text was taken too literally all around.
These are good to great songs, and the set wisely eschews the Statler's novelty numbers. Dailey & Vincent, they can flat sing. But not this, not this way, not this time. Not to these ears, anyhow.
Their fourth long player in two years, Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, appears not on their principal label (Rounder), but in one of those side deals that are an increasing curiosity and, perhaps, necessity. It is released by and through Cracker Barrel restaurants, an old home-style restaurant chain which reaches into 41 U.S. states.
At virtually any other moment in my writing career, I would now take a paragraph to lambaste the artists for selling out. Reconciled as I am to the vicissitudes of freelance life and the difficulties of translating one's creative impulses into food, I will pass on that, noting only that these releases were troubling to contemplate when we had a print magazine and a formal review section. Do we cover them? Do we review the Time-Life compilations, which they began sending out for comment? I dunno.
Nor do I know why this particular album rose up off the chair and into my truck, except that I knew that it would at least be good enough to get me out to the farm and back. Which it was. But I'll probably not play it again.
Here, I think, are the problems:
(1) The Statler Brothers were a quartet. Dailey and Vincent are a duo, and a good one. Now, they've augmented themselves with three other vocalists -- Jeff Parker, Joe Dean, and Jeff Pearls -- though the credits do not make clear who sings what part on which songs. But there is something different, particularly, I suspect, in ensemble singing, between coming together and learning parts in the studio and singing so often that one intuitively knows where each other voice will and should fall.
(2) The songs don't swing. The bluegrass ornaments are fine, and better than fine, but they feel like ornaments and not like integral parts of the songs. But mostly the vocalists are unable to come close to the easy confidence with which the Statlers presented their music, and they don't...swing. I mean, there's no other way to say it, really. I listen to music students play jazz every Friday afternoon, and they don't swing either. But as the old aphorism goes, it don't mean a thing if it doesn't have that swing. Or however that went.
(3) The Statler Brothers were really, really good. And if you like these songs (and I do, for the most part), you can hear the originals in your head and judge these faithful covers against them. And the covers will always lose. Every time. The high parts don't have the edge, the low parts don't have the gravity, and the middle parts don't...well...swing. And yet, as music, it is without flaw. It's just also without feeling, no matter that Dailey & Vincent grew up (as many of us did) listening to the Statlers, no matter that they were among those who sung the Statlers into the Country Music Hall of Fame. What one walks away from this disc thinking is, wow, the Statlers were really, really good because Dailey & Vincent are really good, and their covers aren't a patch on the originals.
(4) The covers are too faithful. There are no surprises. This will be a minor quibble, but why not at least update "The Class of '57" to "The Class of '67"? It's a surpassingly sad song about life wearing one down, about settling for what's possible, about the dimunition of dreams and goals. But the class of '57, by my math, is well retired now. The class of '67 is hard against these truths, and struggling with them. (As is my class, of '77, but I don't think it sings as well.) Again, I quibble, but my point is simply that the text was taken too literally all around.
These are good to great songs, and the set wisely eschews the Statler's novelty numbers. Dailey & Vincent, they can flat sing. But not this, not this way, not this time. Not to these ears, anyhow.
Tags: alden, daileyvincent, review, statlerbrothers
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Comment by Easy Ed on February 4, 2010 at 10:18am -
It's so refreshing to read a bad review these days. All these non-professional blogger types here usually say that if they don't like something, they don't write about it. But a critic needs not to just pick the best that comes across the desk, but acknowledge those that may not live up. Now I know I'm no critic which is why I rarely do reviews...but a good written one is becoming hard to find. Another lost art?
And funny about Cracker Barrel...we were just talkin' about them over the weekend cause there are none out here in California, or at least close to where we're at. Not that we would go eat there mind you. Their employee policies and past legal actions make Wal Mart look good.
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Comment by Kim Ruehl on February 4, 2010 at 2:31pm -
As I read this, I couldn't help but think about what gets lost whenever people record cover tunes. There tends to be this sense that it has a feeling for them, but that feeling comes off more as their own nostalgia for how they felt when they sang along with the original recording. It's difficult, I'd imagine, for a singer to separate far enough from how it felt to sing along with those tunes as a kid, enough to sing them now. It's something I think Steve Earle nailed on Townes and Loudon pulled off well enough on that Charlie Poole record, and it's what's missing every time some poor misguided sap tackles Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Just because you like the way it feels in your mouth to sing those songs doesn't mean that it's going to make anyone else feel anything when they listen. I appreciate a well-done cover tune, or a well-done tribute album, but that generally requires the artist do something to the songs that the last person who sung it didn't do. I'm not talking about throwing a mandolin where there used to be a trumpet either. If all you do is make people think "I loved the first time someone did that song," then what's the point?
That said, I just received this in the mail today and I haven't listened to it yet, so take my thoughts with a grain of (Cracker Barrel table) salt. I should also note that my copy came with a coupon for a free meal at Cracker Barrel, which made me laugh. Better than the random nonsequitor thimble I got with an advance copy of someone else's CD last year. Don't remember that artist's name or the album, but I remember the thimble. Some good that did. I had no purpose for the thimble, and I have no use for a free meal at Cracker Barrel either.
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Comment by Gar on February 4, 2010 at 4:03pm - Hey Kim, send me the coupon. We have a Cracker Barrel just down the road and we will use it.
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Comment by Kris Rossmiller on February 9, 2010 at 6:34am - I completely agree. I was eating at a Cracker Barrel over the weekend and they were playing this CD. It wasn't bad, but I didn't understand the purpose. The Statlers were awesome, and anyone who devotes a whole CD to covering them should try to do something a little different with the songs.
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Comment by Jim Moulton on February 12, 2010 at 9:18pm -
Another Kudos for a honest review, I have done some reviews for Cracker Barrel , some of their records are very good, I gave this a quick listen, just clips, honestly, it didn't do anything for me, so I came over here expecting a detailed review about how great Vincent and Daily pulled this off. i really did not like their last CD , I forget why, but I think it was rushed, On covers, I'm a huge Roseanne Cash Fan , but her latest CD on covers her Dad liked was one of her worst in my opinion, Nice idea ,but 500 miles don't work for her, and a lot more of the songs are very well put together tunes, with very good quality, but I didn't care for it.
Ok, got to get the negative out of my system. Have a very good new CD to type up, Loved it, fresh, "Parlor walls". Will drop off a copy back here later
Jim
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Comment by S.P. Gass on April 27, 2010 at 7:36am -
I wasn't familiar with all the music of the Statler Bros so have a little different perspective. I heard the D&V cover of Hello Mary Lou on the radio and really liked it so went out and bought the album. I don’t like every song on the album, but there are some other good tracks like I’ll Go to My Grave Lovin’ You, Do You Know You Are My Sunshine, and Thank You World. At $11.99, it’s not a bad price for a new album these days.
More thoughts, if interested, at: http://lowtechtimes.com/2010/04/12/dailey-and-vincent/
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Created by No Depression Feb 17, 2009 at 9:06pm. Last updated by No Depression Jun 24.
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