Culture
Grand Ole Opry members Dailey & Vincent embrace bluegrass bridging genres, generations, geography
By: Ian Saint
Posted on:
MARIETTA, Ohio (WOUB) – Over the past century, the Grand Ole Opry has inducted only two sibling pairs: Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle and Rhonda and Darrin Vincent. Although the Vincents have performed together on the Opry stage many times, the Opry inducted Darrin as part of Dailey & Vincent, the acclaimed duo he formed with Jamie Dailey in 2007.
For 50 years, Vincent has watched bluegrass break into the mainstream. Once considered relatively niche, the genre now reaches unexpected audiences—Beyoncé opens Texas Hold ‘Em with a banjo, and just last year Opeth’s Frederik Åkesson told WOUB he credited bluegrass with improving his death metal shredding.
Prior to Dailey & Vincent playing Peoples Bank Theatre (222 Putnam St.) on Saturday, Vincent spoke with WOUB’s Ian Saint about his bluegrass journey. A transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
Ian Saint: I saw Rhonda Vincent play the Grand Ole Opry last year. Can you tell me more about your history with the Opry?
Darrin Vincent: Funny you saw my sister, Rhonda. I believe she and I played it for the first time in 1988. I was blessed to play with Ricky Skaggs — who was inducted in the ‘80s — and Kentucky Thunder for 11 years. Then, Jamie and I wanted the Opry to be our first paid performance. Ten years later, on our 100th (Opry performance), they asked us to be the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry. They’re turning 100 years old, and they’ve only had 232 members. It’s incredible.
What were the highlights of playing with Ricky?
Vincent: Touring with Ricky was such a learning experience and a great opportunity. One of the highlights was shooting a PBS special with Bruce Hornsby, Travis Tritt, and many people at the Ryman Auditorium. I was blessed to win five Grammys with Ricky. The Opry took all their members and videotaped their 80th birthday at Carnegie Hall in New York; that was a huge highlight.
When did you begin making a living from music full-time?
Vincent: I’ve been performing since I was three years old. We had a family group called The Sally Mountain Show: my mom and dad, Rhonda, myself, and my brother Brian. We traveled the world (as far as) Finland. So I’ve been performing all my life; I never really had a day job, per se.
Ireland’s folk music conference, Your Roots Are Showing, just awarded Peter Rowan their Lifetime Achievement Award. I was there to see it. How far, geographically, has performing bluegrass taken you?
Vincent: Wow, that’s cool. We’ve played Ireland, the UK, Switzerland—all over there. On a USO tour, I went to Bosnia with Ricky and Paul Overstreet. We flew into Hungary and then rode in a military convoy to Bosnia to love on the troops and play music to give them a sense of America.
We’ve been to Japan with Ricky. They are the nicest people in the whole world. It was the coolest thing — they couldn’t speak a lick of English when you’d talk with them, but they sang along to all the lyrics in English. We would perform Bill Monroe songs, and they’d sing in English.
Do you think mainstream openness to bluegrass has grown since you started?
Vincent: For me, [2000 film] O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a huge phenomenon. It had I’m A Man of Constant Sorrow and a whole collection of good music. We (Kentucky Thunder) were on that tour nationwide, which opened the door (for bluegrass) as much as Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and The Darlings being on The Andy Griffith Show.
On that note, have you noticed a shift in who’s comprising your audiences?
Vincent: Our audience is generally older, but we’re now seeing a younger audience (who saw) Billy Strings and think it’s so cool, and they’re starting to look at other artists inside that genre — which is terrific. It takes the younger audience to keep this moving along. We brought Wyatt Ellis, an unbelievable player from Knoxville, on the Grand Ole Opry for his debut performance at 14. To see these young kids taking that liking to (bluegrass), yet taking it to another level business-wise is such a beautiful thing to watch. I’m thankful for that.
Listening through your catalog, I was struck by your breadth of genres. CMT called you “the Rock Stars of Bluegrass.” I have always associated you with bluegrass, but I hear plenty of country and gospel songs, even acapella. Do you feel the genre has benefits? Conversely, have you felt pigeonholed by genre?
Vincent: Both, yes. We’re in bluegrass; most of the time, when people think bluegrass, they think of hay bales. There’s nothing wrong with Hee Haw; they have the donkey and straw, but they don’t emphasize the craft of the writing and musicianship it takes to do bluegrass. So, I think it’s pigeonholed in that way. Thank the Lord for people like Chris Dailey, Billy Strings, and Alison Kraus; these younger generations are seeing the craft of that music, and bluegrass isn’t being pigeonholed much anymore.
Then (we do) country music and some of the bluegrass people don’t like that, but we crossover enough with banjo, light drums, and piano, with the four-part harmony — kind of like the Oak Ridge Boys and Statler Brothers, Jamie’s childhood heroes.
A few years ago, John Carter Cash called Jamie. “I’ve got a stack of songs my father wrote. Would you want to write music to this?” He did that, and we recorded it. Having a song that Johnny Cash and Jamie co-wrote and being on (2018 album Forever Words) with Alison Krauss, Roseanne Cash, and Jamey Johnson was a massive honor for us.
We don’t look at genre. We just do music that we love and try to educate folks. We have comedy, we try to make people laugh, and then we have serious songs with the Gospel, of course. We have a whole collection of different types of music; if people come to Marietta, Ohio, they’ll see that it’s the quickest 90 minutes you’ll ever sit through.
Dailey & Vincent perform at the Peoples Bank Theatre Saturday. For tour dates and tickets, visit https://www.daileyandvincent.com.