Can a country singer from Chicago get any respect?
For local vocalist Dayna Malow, one certainly hopes the answer is ‘yes’. Malow
is that rarest of breeds in the Windy City: a contemporary country artist. There is no
alt, cowpunk, or neo-traditionalism in her sound. Rather, Malow has set her sights on the
kind of mass market gold mined in Nashville and has proven over the last couple of years
that she can make music capable of reaching the mega-audiences that Nashville stars
regularly court. Her latest release, Tangled Up In You, shows Dayna at the top of
her game, with stronger songs and a more Dixie-fried production angle that should be
instantly appealing to fans of US99-style C&W. She has a clear and powerful voice that
propels the best of her songs into the hit single territory occupied by the
million-selling divas down south and there is no doubt that, given access to the same
major label promotional machine, she would be just as successful.
The songs presented here demonstrate that Malow understands what a current country hit
needs to be: great sounding, hooky, and containing an expression of positive emotion. The
title track "Tangled Up In You" and its follow-up "It’s A Beautiful
Day" both hit that nail directly on the head and are perfect radio material for her
chosen market. Her songwriting has improved in the process of making this record and the
overall effect is a much more focused and polished release. Tangled Up In You is
an important step for Ms. Malow. Rather than make the same record all over again, she has
delivered a second effort that is markedly better than her first in both songwriting and
commercial potential. If she is able to continue on this path of growth, it is a pretty
sure bet that country audiences won’t really care where she comes from.
