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The Orange Peel. The Redlight Cafe. The Purple Fiddle. The Carbondale Sunset Concert series. While the last name in this short listing of music venues might not be as eye-catching as its more colorful predecessors, for the Nashville-based modern roots quartet known as Daybreak, it's just another notch on their well-traveled belts.
Playing anywhere there's a crowd is nothing new to Daybreak, who have called their tour bus home for most of the past two years. During that time, the group has played to numerous packed festivals, clubs and concert halls across the United States and Canada. They plan to add another name to their resume July 25 when they take the stage in Turley Park at 7 p.m. as the final act in this year's Sunset Concert series.
The show will also be a quasi-homecoming for the band's bassist/vocalist Dan Immel, who attended Carbondale Community High School as a freshman and sophomore before he and his family moved farther south. With the demanding touring schedule his band keeps, Immel is expecting his trip to Carbondale to be a relaxing one.
"I'm just really excited to be coming back, and I'm really hoping to just kick back and have a good time with the crowd," Immel said.
But for Immel and his group, who have only recently begun to enter the mainstream, moments of rest are few and far between. Their nonstop touring has been one of the keys to their success and they have no intention of taking time off now.
Just last year, on the strength of their unique blend of Appalachia and Celtic sounds, the group's debut album, "First Light," became the only independent release to crack CMT's list of the Top 10 Bluegrass Albums. No small feat, considering the list also included household names like Alison Krauss, Union Station and Mountain Heart.
But being part of the new wave of acoustic acts sweeping across the music scene has left the band with a calendar stocked with concert dates and little time to bask in its success. Already this summer they have played in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and just last week traveled to a show in New York, which Immel said reminded him of why he loves life on the road.
"When you stop and think that you're traveling through the mountains to play in front of thousands of people in such beautiful settings, I mean that's what it's all about to me," Immel said.
With all the time they spend away from the studio, it's a wonder the band has managed to continue to churn out original material. But with all four of the group's members - Immel, guitarist/vocalist Edward O'Day, resophonic guitarist Brad Talley, and vocalist DeAnn Whalen - collaborating on the band's songwriting, they continue to record new instrumental and vocal tunes.
It was their devotion to strictly instrumental music that helped to distinguish them from a slew of other acts that play a similar style. On "First Light," only four of the album's 12 tracks featured vocals; the rest filled with the sometimes somber, sometimes playful musical storytelling that has become the band's trademark.
"Our first album was probably about 70 percent instrumental, and there were a lot of people that really seemed to enjoy that," Immel said. "I think it was that kind of a departure from what was out there."
That trademark helped the band first establish themselves in their hometown of Nashville and allowed them to gradually branch out across the country. Daybreak first grabbed the attention of audiences with their performance at the 2002 Folk Alliance Concert in Jacksonville, Fla., where Acoustic Guitar Magazine dubbed them the "highlight" of the conference.
They have also drawn praise from other publications, both in Nashville and elsewhere. They have been featured as an "Artist Highlight" in the Tennessean on numerous occasions, as well as The Nashville Scene and Rage. During the past year, they have also appeared on the nationally syndicated NPR broadcasts "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour" and "Bluegrass Breakdown."
But the group has not been celebrated in the United States alone. Just last summer, Daybreak was the only American band chosen to play the Celtic Roots Festival in Ontario, where they performed alongside Scottish finger-style guitarist Tony McManus. The group's performance was so well received that they were not only invited back again this year but were also chosen to be part of a documentary on traditional music by the Ontario Arts Council set to air on the BBC later this year.
Their success has also given them the chance to share the stage with some of the acts that helped pave the way for them, including Tommy Emmanuel, Stuart Duncan, David Grier, the Roland White Band, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan, Earl Scruggs, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage and Asleep at the Wheel.
Even with all the praise and opportunity that has come the group's way throughout the past year, Immel thinks the best is yet to come. The group has recently added more vocals to their music, and he says that the response has thus far been overwhelmingly positive.
"As much as people really liked our purely instrumental stuff, there's just nothing like hearing someone sing I guess," Immel said. "If that's what people want to hear, then why not give it to them?"
That's exactly what the group intends to do this fall when they head back into the studio to begin recording their next album, which will feature their new equal mix of vocals and instruments. Immel says the band is shooting for a release date sometime next spring to be followed by another summer tour. And since touring is what got Daybreak to where they are today, Immel says they have no intention of messing with a proven formula.
"It's all coming together now," Immel said. "All we have to do is stay out there and just keep hoping for the best."
