Dailey & Vincent, Grand Ole Opry members, are known for their authenticity and honesty. 

Their new album, “A Beautiful Life,” carries the same easy warmth. Jamie Dailey jokes that it’s “pretty dang good,” but the record shows something deeper — a band growing naturally into its influences and its moment. 

“I think the record fits our lives more than it does our catalog,” Dailey said. 

“This record is extremely special to me because I have lived the lyrics. I have lived the lyric ‘A Beautiful Life.’ I have definitely lived every word of the song ‘In God’s Country.’”

WOMEN IN BUSINESS: The Most Influential Women in Arizona for 2026

WOMEN IN REAL ESTATE: The Most Influential Women in Commercial Real Estate for 2026

The album is already resonating with music fans, as it has two consecutive No. 1 bluegrass singles, “Ruby” and “Moon Shines on the Still.” “A Beautiful Life” is available at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, on streaming platforms, and at select Barnes & Noble locations.

The duo is bringing its “A Beautiful Life” tour to the Musical Instrument Museum on Saturday, July 25. 

The song “A Beautiful Life” was written by Opry members Carrie Underwood, “Whisperin’” Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. 

One song on the album is “Butterfly,” an inspirational song, inspired, actually, by a blackbird. However, it morphed into “Butterfly,” and better captured the moment.

“I was sitting on my patio in the rural country one day,” he said. “On a cold December morning, I saw a blackbird in the tree. I thought I heard a blackbird sing, and I thought, ‘Oh, I want to write about that.’ So, I got with Tia, and we wrote it. We named it “Butterfly.” 

The song started about a “Butterfly” explores handling and curing loneliness. 

“I’ve been down that road,” he said. “This record is extremely special to me because I have lived the lyrics.” 

Dailey & Vincent put a fun spin on “Jacob’s Ladder,” written by Bruce Hornsby and John Hornsby. The track was originally recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. 

Dailey connects with his band’s version of “Uncle Billy Play Your Fiddle for Me.” 

“The song is about an old-time fiddle player,” he said. “I lived that lyric with an old man that we played music with years ago, Raymond Anderson. I watched him pick up his fiddle and saw that boat.”

Dailey’s music career was somewhat of a fluke. At the age of 22, he was working at the Fleet Guard factory, making heavy‑duty oil filters for Cummins engines. When the production line stalled, he’d grab a napkin and write songs. One of them, “Poor Boy Working Blues,” became a No. 1 hit after Doyle Lawson called out of the blue and invited him to audition. 

“I thought it was a joke,” said Dailey, who was born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee. 

He never made it to college. Instead, he traveled the world for nine years with Lawson before forming Dailey & Vincent.

At home in Nashville — or on his acres in Gainesboro — Dailey keeps his treasures close: Grammy nomination medals, bluegrass awards, and his Opry member trophy, carved from the Ryman Auditorium stage. 

“I’m really thankful for those,” he said. “There’s a lot of hard work that went into all that.”

Dailey still remembers the moment he and his musical partner, Vincent, were unexpectedly inducted into Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

For 10 years, the Grammy-nominated Dailey & Vincent were guest artists, playing at most two or three songs. Then came the call asking Dailey & Vincent to play a 30-minute segment, a rare move for guests. They invited friends to join them — John Carter Cash, Marty Stuart, Darrin’s mother Carolyn, an upright bassist, and Dailey’s father, J.B. Dailey. 

Their friends and family told Dailey and Vincent that they were too busy to see the show. What they didn’t know was that everybody they loved had been quietly invited and sworn to secrecy — or the induction was off.

“We thought that was strange,” Dailey said.

“We called Dierks Bentley to sing a song with us. He said he was on tour and couldn’t come. We called Dolly Parton because we had been on a bunch of her records and she’s been on one of ours. She was on tour and couldn’t come. We got a hold of John Carter Cash, Johnny’s son, and he sang a song with us.” 

“He invited her to come and play one and she did,” he said. “Then we invited Marty Stuart, who is a Grand Ole Opry member, to sing one with us as well.”

At the end of the performance, Stuart gathered them around the microphone to sing an old bluegrass gospel number, “Rank Stranger.” Because the event was live on the radio, Dailey had to backsell it.

“They said, ‘That’s Marty Stuart live right here on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry,’” he recalled. “Everybody applauded and applauded and he said, ‘Wait, wait, wait. We have some business to take care of.’ Darrin and I looked at him like, ‘What business have we got?’”

Just then, Stuart shared Dailey and Vincent’s background.

“And he said, ‘You gentlemen have a lot of close friends and family in the audience tonight,’” Dailey recalled.

Puzzled, Dailey said no one could make it. The house lights came on, and their friends and family were in the balcony.

“We thought, ‘What is happening here?’ Marty said, ‘Country music loves you. Country music needs you. The Grand Ole Opry would like to welcome you as its next members.’ Darrin Vincent fell to the floor. I thought he had died. I should have run to the bathroom because I started squealing and crying like a little baby.” 

Country music legend Jenny Seely and Old Crow Medicine Show musicians inducted them. Dailey said he was particularly honored because the Grand Ole Opry is nearly 101 years old. There are 244 members, and only 77 of them are alive and active, he said. 

“We’re a relatively small family with everyone from Carrie Underwood to us to Garth Brooks to the oldest-living Opry member, who was a legend, Whispering Bill Anderson [who wrote ‘Whiskey Lullaby]. We’re blessed.”