Fervor Coulee Bluegrass Blog

Dale Ann Bradley's Somewhere South of Crazy

Donald Teplyske  |  August 16, 2011

Unlike some of her contemporaries, there are no airs about Dale Ann Bradley.

She is who she is, a woman from East Kentucky who has had both good times and bad, one who has likely taken longer to reach the pinnacle of her profession than she would have liked but one who wouldn't change the path taken as it would have impacted the journey. She is a devoted mother and daughter, someone who has put family and home before career more than once. As Dale once told me, "I'd love to look like Rhonda, but I don't. I am who I am- I can't afford designer clothes; I shop at Wal-Mart!"

Appearing as happy and vibrant as she has in years, Dale Ann Bradley's new album, out August 30 on Compass Records, is an incredible recording. While there is absolutely nothing greasy about the recording, the album doesn't feel distant or over-worked. It sounds and feels honest, as it should.

I'm working on a review, but thought I would share this link [http://www.daleann.com] to her website featuring an EPK for the new album, video clips of 'recording' and some brief insights into the album.

Dale has two co-writes on the album including the title cut written with Pam Tillis, who also sings on the track and is featured briefly in the EPK. She also wrote one song (Round and Round) on her own while interpreting the writing of others to her normal high standard. Leaving Kentucky may be the performance of her career and an interpretation of Seals and Crofts' Summer Breeze is quite enjoyable; as Dale says, those are bluegrass lyrics.

The album closes with a bonus, an unadorned encore performance from several years ago of Old Southern Porches recorded on a California festival stage. This is something I wish more bluegrass artists would do, give something a little extra, revisit a standard from earlier in their career.

I do like my Dale Ann, and "Somewhere South of Crazy" is magnificent.