20 songs that cover every aspect of human interaction.  The Grey Album – album #9 from prolific singer-songwriter and voice actress Grey DeLisle is heartwarming, heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measures.

Release Date: 4^th April 2025

Label: Hummin’bird Records

Formats: CD / 2xLP Vinyl / Digital

A FAMILIAR VOICE AND AN ACTIVE PEN

If you think that you haven’t come across Grey DeLisle before, let me put you right – you almost certainly have.  It could be that you’ve heard a snippet or so from one of her albums; her debut, The Small Time, appeared back in 2000 and her most recent offering (until now) was 2023’s She’s an Angel.  And you’ve almost certainly come across her as the voice of Martin Prince, Sherri or Terri in The Simpsons, Daphne in Scooby-Doo or as any one of the 2,000+ parts she’s voiced in over 500 productions since she started her career as a voice actress in 2018.

As a singer-songwriter, the description ‘prolific’ is scarcely adequate.  Indeed, it’s been suggested that Grey DeLisle “…turns out songs the way Stephen King turns out novels.  The way Ryan Adams creates covers.  The way Krispy Kreme delivers donuts.  Sweet and satisfying, and staggering in sheer volume.”  The Grey Album is Grey’s 9^th and it’s an epic, 20-track affair with songs that deal with just about every aspect of human interaction in ways that are heartwarming, heartbreaking and hilarious – in almost equal measure.

A LOT TO SAY, AND A FINE WAY TO SAY IT

The songs for The Grey Album came about during the pandemic, when Grey shared a ‘pod’ (remember them?) with her long-time creative partner – and ex-husband – Murry Hammond, guitarist/bassist in pioneer alt-country and old 97s.  On the new album she’s assisted by, amongst others, Tammy Rogers – who plays violin and viola and is responsible for the album’s many, varied, string arrangements – David Ralicke (trumpet) and Greg Leisz (pedal steel).  Co-conspirator Murry plays acoustic guitar and Producer Marvin Etzioni puts in the hours on a multiplicity of instruments including electric guitar, mandolins, bass and drums.

The inspiration for the title and sleeve art of The Grey Album is self-evident – and not just to Beatle fans.  The album itself is laid out, over four sides of vinyl, in the same manner as the iconic, white, Beatle product – and why shouldn’t it be?  Like The Beatles in 1968, Grey DeLisle has an awful lot to say and this is a fine way to go about saying it.

A WAY WITH WORDS

The album’s highlights come thick, and they come fast.  Listeners will get a good idea of what The Grey Album has to offer as soon as they hear lyrics like: “Hello, I’m Lonesome – how I wish that you were mine.  I’ve been waiting for someone like you since half past nine” on the album’s opening track, Hello, I’m Lonesome.  Inspired, in this instance, by an encounter in a speed dating forum, they capture both the anguish and the absurdity of a genuine human emotion.  And that’s a device that Grey uses to devastating effect throughout The Grey Album.

Elsewhere on Side One of the album, A Coastal Town – a song that Grey wrote with input from The Bellfuries’ Joey Simeone – is a soft, contemplative number which, with lines like: “If we were living in a coastal town, you’d take me swimming every night,” capture a romance that is highly appealing to those of marooned inland.  Even though they – I suspect deliberately – ignore the hard reality that life is seldom a never-ending holiday, regardless of where you might call home.

SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT

“I’ve always wanted to write a sort of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ story set to music,” says Grey and, with the excellent Reach for the Sky, she’s done just that.  It’s a tasteful country song with some great pedal steel licks from Greg and, once again, Grey’s lyrics capture the listener’s imagination, this time as she tells the story of a trigger-cautious lady who’s been taught to “…shoot, shoot, shoot.”

Moving on to Side Two, Sister Shook was inspired by a story told to Grey by the great Rodney Crowell.  As a child, Rodney was witness to an exorcism when his mother had “demons” cast from her soul by a lady from the local church who was known as “Sister Shook.”  The story resonated with Grey and prompted her to come up with this in-your-face rocker.  Marvin certainly earns his keep on this one by playing all the instrumentation – electric guitar, drums and bass – behind Grey’s vocals.

TEARS OF GRIEF AND LAUGHTER

Grey’s voice is vulnerable almost to the point of tearful breakdown on the weepy Daddy, Can You Fix a Broken Heart?  But I can’t help imagining the tears of laughter that flowed as she wrote the lines: “You gave me a toy spaceship that lit up when it flew.  The boy next door crashed it out of spite.  You put it back together with a little bit of glue and you said, ‘Darlin’ it’ll be alright.’”  And she uses that knack of finding unexpected but wholly appropriate rhymes in the simmering, uplifting, 40 Something Runaway when she sings: “Singing boleros at a roadside bar, she traded her virtue for a vintage guitar.”

SPIRIT OF THE BIG ‘O’

Long Ryders’ multi-instrumentalist Stephen McCarthy sings harmony vocals on Didn’t We Try, the song that opens Side Three of the album.  A song of perseverance in the face of adversity, it’s a choppy, upbeat pop song peppered, once more, with Grey’s inspired couplets.  How about: “…to make it through October and when we both got sober…”

Written by producer Marvin, the shimmering, dramatic I’m a Wreck is the album’s sole ‘cover.’  The song was originally pitched to Roy Orbison and Grey really does capture the spirit of The Big ‘O’ with her delivery – and Tammy’s lush strings work perfectly, here, too.

Grey loves her woman/car metaphors and she plays that love for all it’s worth on I’m a Wreck, another song that has Marvin working overtime.  He chips in on guitars, mandolin, octave mandolin, drums and bass and his mandolin flourishes are the perfect fit.

BUT, SERIOUSLY…

Grey isn’t immune to milking country sentimentality for comic effect but she captures the emotion and trauma of parting beautifully with the wistful Don’t Let Go of My Hand.  The losses felt by either parent or child during some of life’s key moments – a first day at school, marriage and bereavement – are all considered and Grey’s thoughtful vocals are mirrored sympathetically by the band.

It was whilst reading Ann Sharpsteen’s memoir of the life and tribulations of Vivian Liberto, first wife of Johnny Cash, that Grey had the inspiration for My Darling Vivian, the song that kicks off the fourth side of The Grey Album.  It’s one of Grey’s more serious songs, it’s well-written and it’s performed here with absolute sincerity.  Tammy’s strings are the perfect accompaniment and it’s easy to imagine The Man in Black performing this one himself.

NICE STORIES AND WISE MESSAGES

Whilst playing a show in Round Top, Texas, Grey observed an old couple dancing together. She asked them how long they’d been married and they told her that they were actually divorced but that neither of them had managed to find a better dancing partner.  The story struck a chord and inspired Grey to write Take Me Dancing Again, a lovely country waltz with tasty Mexican flavours provided by Tammy’s strings and David’s trumpets.

And there’s another nice story behind Red Dress, the song that concludes this engaging album.  The song’s message, encapsulated in Grey’s “What you work for is treasured a lifetime, what comes easy is tossed to the side” lyric is advice that we’re all taught as children and which resonates more and more strongly, the older we get.  It’s a beautiful way to close the album.

20 songs that cover every aspect of human interaction.  Heartwarming, heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measures – yes: that’s The Grey Album.

Watch the captivating animated video to Reach for the Sky – a track from the album – below:

Grey DeLisle online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Spotify

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