There’s almost always a good story around the creation of an album. I think it’s just the nature of the creative process. Sometimes though, the back story drives the record more than the other way around. That’s pretty much the case with Grey DeLisle’s new release, Don’t Turn Around. While working on SpongeBob SquarePants, the in-demand voiceover artist met Andy Paley, who had produced records for Brian Wilson, Patti Smith, and the Ramones, among others. Long story short, the pair was well into the recording and mixing of a new DeLisle album when Paley succumbed to throat cancer. She then turned to her long-time collaborator, Lone Justice co-founder and producer Marvin Etzioni. With the two of them, and engineer Jake Gideon, taking turns channeling Paley, they finished the record in both the styles of Paley and previous DeLisle/Etzioni projects.
Let’s start with some of the Paley-forward numbers. Drive Around is sort of a period piece, reflecting a time in DeLisle’s life when the turbulence of her parent’s relationship made driving around some more a good alternative to going home. With Paley adding half-a-dozen instruments, including sleigh bells, it perfectly captures the spirit of being home from college for the holidays. The title track, pulls a sound from 60’s all-girl groups that could easily have been a Burt Bacharach-penned composition. Disneyland also adds strings in a somewhat autobiographical tale about the fantasized consummation of a long-distance relationship. It’s a decidedly non-twangy take on DeLisle’s vocal talents, in a sort of retro outlaw country song. CD closer Claire is a love song to her mother, despite their difficult relationship. It evokes a French-piano-bar, dreamy sound that would feel just right on an Edith Piaf record.
There are also plenty of tunes redolent of the honky-tonk sweet spot of previous DeLisle/Etzioni works. They start right out of the gate with Every Day of the Week Ends In Why, a George Jones-sounding ballad featuring Chris Scruggs on a crying steel guitar. There’s the Door is also a nod to Jones, with its walking bass line and a twangy sound that permeates it to the core. Open Mic At the Stumble Inn is a perfectly conceived short film about amateur night at a greasy country music club. The soundtrack is obviously there, and the lyrics are the script. All it needs is a film director to get it down on tape. You’re Driving Me Away is also a bit of a concept piece. It’s about arguing with your significant other in the car, where neither of you can walk away and both of you are going to say things you shouldn’t. There’s a touch of norteno in the horns, and with Dave Alvin providing the male vocals even the puns (“we’ve been down this road before”) hit the right notes.
Having to pick up someone else’s ideas midway through a production has to be unimaginably tough, even more so when stylistic tendencies are so different. Instead of whipsawing you between visions, though, Don’t Turn Around ends up sounding like someone’s record collection. Yeah, there is a variety of sounds, but there’s also something that holds it all together. It’s also a great introduction to one of LA’s finer singer-songwriters, Grey DeLisle.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.