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.

Will Dailey’s seventh album BOYS TALKING is the one he’s not releasing.

Oh, you’ll get to hear it, if you buy a vinyl copy, CD, or download it directly from him. But it won’t be a matter of opening up a streaming platform and pressing play on a chosen date with thousands of other releases. With a record he considers his best work, Will wanted to find another way to celebrate and enjoy the process of sharing the album for more than a day or week. “Music is supposed to be a joyful expression of self that connects us to other people,” Will says. “I want to instill a more personal, joyful process of sharing my work.”

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 Mend​​éz, 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).