Grey DeLisle is a name you’ll probably recognize. When you think of her work, you may think of her incredible voice talent ranging from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Young Justice, the voice of Daphne Blake since 2001 from the Scooby-Doo franchise, The Cuphead Show, and of course her role as the voice of Catwoman (Selina Kyle) and Vicki Vale from the video games Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Knight from 2011 to 2015 which featured the late, great Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight himself.
But Grey is more than just a voice actress that you would meet at conventions to sign autographs and have a chat with her on the characters that people know and love. She also has a voice coming from the singer-songwriter routine and has this country, Americana, and rock orientation inside her heart. She has released several studio albums going back to the beginning of the millennium.
Her latest album simply entitled The Grey Album which is her nod to The Beatles 1968 gem of The White Album, is a double album which carries the country-rock orientation dipped into the worlds of Dolly Parton, Patsy Clyne, Melanie, Maesa Pullman of The Last Hurrah, Emmylou Harris to Janis Joplin, Grey pulls all of the stop signs to prove that she’s a fighter by laying down the law with these centrepieces that you might want to take note of.
From the ‘60s girls group orientation on ‘Who to Love’ will make you think of the Joe Meek-era recordings at 304 Holloway Road in the styles of Glenda Collins, to the flamenco dance off into the night with ‘Mi Vida’ Grey visions the styles of Linda Ronstadt and her partnership with Andrew Gold during their time with Asylum Records and Grey’s childhood, listening to those records that had a huge impact on her.
Then, she puts on her platform boots and visions the ‘70s glam rock genre, channeling Slade’s Noddy Holder, Rod Stewart and the Faces, and of course Janis Joplin (non-glam) with ‘Sister Shook’ and the harder-rock orientation shuffle of a 12-bar blues with the Let It Bleed-era from the Rolling Stones on ‘I Can’t Be Kind’. The thing about Grey, she combines different forms of music by proving herself that she’s more than just a country artist, but tackling those different genres right to the bone.
When I think of ‘Daddy Can You Fix a Broken Heart’, it almost reminded me of Pink Floyd’s ‘Southampton Dock’ from their 1983 album The Final Cut, which was the last album to feature Roger Waters as she continues the composition by where she expanded the song by going from the 1940s into the southern territory desert of the 1950s, writing a letter to her dad in this mournful arrangement.
But its ‘Forty Something Runaway’ that gets the cowbell in its clock-ticking bass pump. And to be allowed to feature The Runaways alumni Cherie Currie involved, it shows Grey always has a helping hand when it comes to the girl group orientation with its harder edge, Spanish guitar, and a nod to its Beatle-sque approach that pushes the envelope even further.
Then, back into the O.K. corral where she sings about a father-daughter relationship on passing the torch to his loved one and carry on his legacy as a robber in ‘Reach for the Sky’ and teaching the next generation to shoot, aim, before it all goes down and do it right and then channeling her inner Jane Siberry vibe with a classical string orientation of saying farewell to their loved ones on ‘Convince Me’.
She then returns to her Rolling Stones routine during the Brian Jones-era with its late ‘60s garage-country-rock attitude by driving down the highway of a driver going off the rails with ‘I’m a Wreck’ with its Pete Townshend-like flamenco swing to the core. I’m quite surprised to review something special by Grey’s musical talents.
While I’m not a massive country music fan, The Grey Album is one of those albums that’s worth checking out. I may have to check out her previous work to see what I’ve been missing. Just put this album on while driving down the deserted highway and imagine yourself being free from all of the chaos that you had to endure five years ago.
