Dailey & Vincent Become Newest Members of Grand Ole Opry

Saturday night (March 11) marked Bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent’s 101st performance on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

Written by Chuck Dauphin
Dailey & Vincent Become Newest Members of Grand Ole Opry
Dailey & Vincent; Photo by Chris Hollo for Grand Ole Opry

Saturday night (March 11) marked Bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent’s 101st performance on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. That might not sound like a monumental number, but it turned out to be one of their most memorable evenings on the historic stage, as the duo were officially inducted as Opry members. Jeannie Seely inducted the duo, a logical choice as it was Seely who introduced the two on their first appearance there a decade ago. Before the ceremony, Darrin Vincent said he and Jamie Dailey were mindful of some of the great harmony-laden duos that have been a part of the Opry’s history over the years, such as the Osborne Brothers, Jim and Jesse, and the Louvin Brothers.

“All of those duets came before us, we have so much respect for them,” he said. “I love to listen to the old recordings, and what they sang, and try to put our minds back in their environment. They didn’t have the Pro Tools of today to make vocals perfect, but they were so wonderful together. We try to go back and get those old tones and those old sounds. I think you can hear that on Jamie’s part on the new record, ‘Patriots and Poets.’ He does a lot of the high tenor stuff that Ira Louvin did. Then, he’s got some of the high lead that Bobby Osborne and the Osborne Brothers did. That’s so important. We can’t go forward until we know where we’ve been, and those folks have paved the way for folks like us. They didn’t have interstates back then and all the conveniences that we have today. They really paid a dear price for all of us today.”

Jamie Dailey, who cited the long-standing musical diversity that one sees on the Opry stage, said that being members of the show is a great responsibility – and one they don’t take lightly.

“It is our job to be the best ambassadors that we can for the Grand Ole Opry and what it stands for. It’s our job to go out and promote this wonderful and beautiful place, and to get people to come here and see this show that haven’t seen it. That’s one of our biggest goals that we want to reach as we continue to travel. Personally, when we get here, we want to make sure that we play the very best music that we can play. There are people out in the audience that might be sick, going through divorces, having financial trouble, or who knows. It’s our job as entertainers to go on that stage, and take them on a two or three song ride, and hopefully by the time they leave after watching all of us artists, and feeling what the Grand Ole Opry has to offer, they will feel better than when they came. That’s our job – wherever we go.”

Sally Williams, Jamie Dailey, Darrin Vincent, Steve Buchanan; Photo by Chris Hollo for Grand Ole Opry

Sally Williams, Jamie Dailey, Darrin Vincent, Steve Buchanan; Photo by Chris Hollo for Grand Ole Opry

The duo is eagerly anticipating the March 31 release of Patriots & Poets, which promises a few surprises with forays into Country and Folk sounds. Vincent says that he doesn’t feel their longtime fans will be thrown off by the new sounds.

“I would hope that wouldn’t be the case. We’ve got your real traditional bluegrass on there, but being with Cracker Barrel, they have allowed us to branch out. We’ve gotten new fans from that, as well as our association with Springer Mountain Farms and the RFD-TV series that we have. We have to cater to everybody, and not just one set of people. We’ve got something for everybody on this CD. If you don’t like a song, hit the next track and there’s something you’ll enjoy.”

A song that will be of interest to Bluegrass purists is “God’s Love,” which includes a guest vocal from Dailey’s former boss, Doyle Lawson.

“I wrote that song while headed to Europe on an airline, and as I was writing it, I thought ‘This is Doyle. It sounded like something from my days with him.’ I told Darrin that, and he said ‘Let’s get him to come in and play.’ He came in, and just gave it that Doyle feel. Nobody sounds like he does. It was magnificent for us to have him on the record.”

The album also features appearances from Steve Martin and Bela Fleck, and contains the brilliantly-written “Unsung Heroes,” which was written with two of the duo’s own heroes, Bill Anderson and Jimmy Fortune.

“We’ve always sang a lot of patriotic songs for our military vets,” explained Dailey. “When we got together to write with them, Bill had the idea to write about the unsung heroes that never really get talked about. He said ‘Let’s talk about the first responders, the policemen, the firemen.’ Jimmy and I thought it was a great idea. There’s a lot of people who help other people who never get any praise or thanks. They just stay low-key. It was our way of saying ‘thank you’ to those folks.”

Between their touring schedule, recording, and their Springer Mountain Farms-sponsored RFD-TV series (which was picked up for another season), 2017 looks to be full speed ahead, but that’s exactly how they like it.

“We love to tour and to see our fans,” said Vincent. “We try to do about a hundred dates a year, and we love playing the Grand Ole Opry. Then, we have a special festival that we put on called Dailey and Vincent Fest in Hiwassee. That takes a lot of energy, as we host it the whole thing. Then, there’s the cruises, which are a lot of fun. To make sure that we do get rest, we take twelve days off at Christmas and then in the middle of summer to take time for our families and relax.”