Though Ashleigh Dallas is an accomplished string-instrument player, having played fiddle since she was six years old, and daughter to country music legend Rex Dallas, it’s hardly surprising that she’s adopted Kasey Chambers as a mentor as a singer-songwriter. Dallas has toured the world as fiddle player in Kasey’s band and her debut album has been co-produced by Kasey and is to be released on Nash Chambers’ label, Essence Music.
So we face the inevitable question: is Dallas a facsimile of Kasey? And does it matter if she is?
While you can bet that neither Dallas nor Kasey would be comfortable with the accusation, at least Dallas, having toured and recorded with Kasey, has every excuse for sounding at least partially like her mentor… indeed, you’d have to argue that some influence is unavoidable. Which is more that you can say for a number of more blatant imitators.
While Dallas’s voice is more gentle than Kasey’s, the most unavoidable comparison lies in her being able to present hook-riddled pop songs in country clothing. There’s that disarming candour in a song like ‘Dancing With A Ghost’ and ‘Devil’s Flame’, and youthful animation in upbeat pop songs like ‘Me’, ‘Nothing At All’, and ‘You Don’t Care’, all of which you can imagine being embraced by just about any radio format.