Listening to the 20-track double album from Grey DeLisle, it’s hard to imagine her ever having a problem with writer’s block. But the musician – and Emmy-nominated voice actor – actually hit a pretty severe dry spell about a decade and a half ago. In the early 2000s, DeLisle has a consistent career, turning in four studio albums and a live record in the span of five years. Though she had simultaneously started a career as a voice actor, she pivoted toward that line of work and put her music career on hold for a while. But the global forced isolation that started in 2020 rekindled that musical spark and her writer’s block started to crumble. She put out a She’s An Angel in 2023 and just as quickly got to work on her latest release, The Grey Album.
Admittedly, the record is a little intimidating thanks to its length, but it also happens to be DeLisle’s best record to date. Comparisons to Loretta Lynn and Wanda Jackson have been around since her first few albums and are certainly warranted on this album as well, but you can also hear everyone from Rosanne Cash and even Conway Twitty (you can almost hear a direct line between “Hello Darlin’” and DeLisle’s opening track “Hello, I’m Lonesome”). Though the themes here are universal (love unrequited, love discovered, and love discarded) the sound is vintage honky tonk and country, for the most part.
She brought in a number of guests on the record, like her longtime musical partner and ex, Murry Hammond from the Old 97s, to play guitar, X’s drummer D.J. Bonebrake, and The Jayhawks’ Stephen McCarthy. She also duets with the former Runaways singer Cherie Currie on the rock-infused “40 Something Runaway,” an obvious highlight. “I’m A Wreck” is also a brilliant track made more powerful by its simplicity.
DeLisle’s vocals are crammed with so much power and emotion, whether she’s competing with the guitars and drums on a mid-tempo song like “A Promise I Can’t Keep” or laid bear with minimal backing like on the beautifully vulnerable “A Coastal Town,” that voice is formidable. The one song that just seems a little cloying is “Daddy, Can You Fix A Broken Heart.” The sentiment behind it is relatable – a song about parents falling out of love – but told from the point of view of a child and with DeLisle’s little girl voice intro, it just comes off as cringy. Thankfully, that’s just one weak track on an album with some of the best songs DeLisle has ever recorded.
As daunting as a 20-song double LP might seem, the payoff is well worth it for anyone willing to give The Grey Album a shot. With writer’s block clearly behind her, two decades into her musical career, DeLisle is hitting her stride.
