Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Will Dailey has spent the last decade-and-a-half mastering a
twisted, Americana psychedelia that evokes underground legends like Cass McCombs, Kevin
Morby, and Jeff Tweedy. Like these beloved, offbeat icons, there’s no bending to the music
industry machine in his catalog. Rather than try to slot himself into a single genre, era, or sound,
Will has always let the songs do what they want—marketing plans and genre programming be
damned. Independent but not really indie, the strains of the blues, rock, funk and folk continue
to permeate his sound across the years. Rather than a brand of sound, Dailey is a student of
the American roots songbook, and a champion of masterful pop hooks.
In fact, the most consistent through line of his career is recognition from artists of a certain
caliber. He’s repeatedly performed with Eddie Vedder, played alongside Peter Buck of R.E.M.,
spent 2023 opening for Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers, and was tapped to pay tribute to
Richie Havens at the 2024 Folk, Americana, Roots Hall of Fame induction. In that sense,
BOYS TALKING is a culmination of sorts. Not just concerning the idiosyncratic methods of an
artist who’s routinely gone the long way around, but as a mountaintop release from a musician,
writer, and performer who is a visionary artist in every sense of the word.
On this album, which was funded in part by a local arts grant, Will insisted on getting a
murderer’s row of studio musicians in one room, together, to record live: Dave Brophy, Fabiola
Mendéz, Cody Nilsen, Juliana Hatfield, Jeremy Moses Curtis, Andrew Stern, Abie Barrett,
Kevin Barry, Alisa Amador and James Rohr. That sense of camaraderie and fellowship,
across ten days of playing music together, you might say it was… boys talking (even though the
presence of women on this record is essential to the DNA).