Jamie Dailey, left, and Darrin Vincent form the duo Dailey & Vincent that will be in concert Sept. 6 in Nashville.
When bluegrass/gospel/country singer Jamie Dailey recently was reminded that his return to Nashville’s Brown County Music Center on Sept. 6 would put him within a few miles of the Bill Monroe Music Park & Campground in nearby Bean Blossom, a memory from more than 30 years ago magically resurfaced.
He was 15 years old at the Long Haul Jamboree near Gallatin, Tennessee, when, at the last minute before an impromptu performance, Monroe needed a bass player.
“I had my upright bass with me,” Dailey said, speaking by phone from his home in Nashville, Tennessee. “And he suddenly asked if I would get up on stage with him. I was scared to death.
“In fact, I was so nervous and scared, to this day, I can’t tell you how I actually did.”
Daily, now 49, bass player, guitarist, vocalist and one half of the multi-award winning and seven-time-Grammy nominated duo of Dailey & Vincent, returns to the 2,000-seat venue where they sold out a concert 18 months ago.
“This all ties in,” Dailey said of Monroe, known as the father of Bluegrass and also a member of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry, just as the celebrated duo became in 2017. “So it makes this (concert) really special to us.”
The set list for the area show will include a Dailey & Vincent tune that plays in the lobby of the Grand Ole Opry: “That Feel Good Music.” Other segments of the show will include their gospel staples such as “By the Mark” plus covers including John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
The two have been together for 16 years now. And Dailey swears that they never fight. Not on the road. Not anywhere on their seven-season TV show on the Circle Network or XM Radio show.
“No, we don’t argue,” Dailey said. “We have a lot of decisions that we have to make, of course. We use the intelligence that’s been given to us and we talk about it, pray about it, and if one of us feels especially strongly about something, well, then, we go with that feeling.
“That’s how we operate on the road and off the road.”
They have said repeatedly in interviews that they took a big risk when they left established musical gigs years ago to join forces. Dailey laughed when asked if he and his sidekick were simply oblivious to the huge success that would come their way.
“Oh, we were pretty clueless,” he said. “There’s actually no way, though, we could have seen what was coming. But we had a plan in place. … We have been really lucky and really blessed that things have been turning out as they have.”
He referred t0 this, just for starters: Their most recent live CD, “Dailey & Vincent ALIVE,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass charts and remained at the top position for more than 15 weeks. Dailey & Vincent’s first-ever Christmas album, “Dailey & Vincent: The Sounds of Christmas” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart and No. 8 on the Billboard Holiday Chart, landing right behind Michael Buble and Pentatonix as the only country, bluegrass and gospel act in the Top 10.
“My biggest goal is not really any of those things, though,” he said. “Personally, my biggest goal is to make the best music possible and to try to make people happy — especially in a world right now where people sometimes seem to hate each other and can be so mean.
“I just want to bring people joy. And I love everybody. I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, or anything else. Well — unless you’re mean.”
He expects to bring such humor to the local performance. Unscripted and all.
Awhile back, he ended an online interview with this good-natured gem: “If you love the music, we’re Dailey and Vincent. And if you don’t like it, we’re Rascal Flatts.”
About the concert
Who: Bluegrass/gospel/country duo Dailey & Vincent.
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 6.
Where: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Drive in Nashville.
Tickets: browncountymusiccenter.com.
