Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated comedian, voice actress, and singer-songwriter Grey DeLisle cites Cindy Walker as her foremost musical influence. With over five hundred songs recorded over five decades, four hundred of which made the Top 40 country or pop charts, Walker’s songs were recorded by household names like Bing Crosby, Bob Willis, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. She passed away, at the age of eighty-eight, on March 23rd, 2006, just nine days after Willie Nelson released the tribute album, YOU DON’T KNOW ME: THE SONGS of CINDY WALKER. Nearly two decades later, having discovered that Walker’s childhood home was in disrepair, Grey has acted as executive producer on another tribute to Walker titled IT’S ALL HER FAULT: A TRIBUTE TO CINDY WALKER, primarily to raise funds to assist The Cindy Walker Foundation in the restoration of the house in Mexia, Texas. Grey enlisted an all-female cast of established and emerging artists to contribute (complete listing below). This project is not only a worthy fundraiser but is also likely to feature in many end-of-year listings as the finest compilation album of 2025. We spoke with Grey shortly after the album’s release about how the project came about and the hugely positive reviews that it has been receiving.
Was music your first love ahead of acting or comedy?
Music was definitely my first love. My mother was in a Beach Boys and Beatles cover band when I was young. My grandmother raised me, so she was a big influence. She sang with Tito Puente, so she always had music around the house. I would get her stage wear out of a big trunk and put them on when I was little. Also, my father was a big fan of the Carter Family, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline. He played their music all the time. He was very into the outlaw country movement, too. So, I heard a lot of Waylon and Willie growing up.
You are in the ideal position now that you can pursue acting, comedy and music.
The acting and all that pays for the music because the music doesn't pay very well, but I love it so much.
When did that love of music develop into songwriting?
I've been writing songs since I was probably five years old, I thought that everyone wrote songs. It wasn't until I was maybe eight or nine that I realised that that's not something that everybody does.
Did you rebel during your teenage years and get into heavier music?
Oh, I absolutely did. Yeah. I remember Suicidal Tendencies were playing, and my grandmother was like, 'What is that?' I loved goth stuff, The Cure, and Depeche Mode. I got into that pretty heavy in high school, but then I came right back. I've always loved old jazz standards too. I had a Billie Holiday cassette that I got at some truck stop with my dad, and I wore that thing out.
Apart from your own busy recording career, you undertook the Cindy Walker Tribute album, which has deservedly been receiving excellent reviews.
I'm so pleasantly surprised at what a great reception it's getting. I follow The Cindy Walker Foundation page on Facebook, and they were saying how her childhood home was falling apart. And I thought to myself that somebody should do something about that. And then I had my grandma's voice in my head saying, 'Well, you're somebody.' Every time I say someone should do something about anything, I always hear her voice saying, 'you're somebody.'
How did it evolve from an idea into a fully blown project?
Ray Benson, from Asleep at the Wheel, asked me to co-host a television show with him for RFD TV, and he had all these amazing artists coming in. So, I started meeting Brennen Leigh, Melissa Carper, Ginny Mac, Katie Shore and others, which gave me the idea to go ahead and hopefully get them on board. I got a bit nervous at the idea of doing this record, even with all these people being put in my path. I was just going to get everyone to do a track and then pull them all together. My spirit was right but my musical prowess was not as adept as it could have been. Fortunately, and thank goodness for our musical producer, Edward Clendening, who said, 'We have to have a cohesive sound. We'll have great musicians, ask them what key to do the songs in, record them and then send them to artists to record their vocals. So, we did four days of recording with the band and then sent on the recordings to all the artists.
You got the perfect mix of established artists like Rosie Flores, Gail Davis, Mandy Barnett and Kelly Willis, to name but a few, alongside emerging artists like Kimmi Bitter and Summer Dean.
I really feel like it was divine intervention. I just happened to meet all these incredible people around the time that I was trying to put this thing together.
You got Gail Davies out of retirement to contribute.
Yes. I hired the great Chris Scruggs to be the steel player. I had a meal with him in Nashville, and his mom came too. I was like, 'Oh my god, Gail Davies is eating with us, I love her so much.' And I asked Chris if he thought he could ask his mom to be a part of this. It was touch and go for a while because she had hurt her leg and told us to go ahead and get somebody else. I told her that we had time, and even if it's a week before the pressing, we would wait. She was so lovely.
Had you previously known many of the other artists?
I met Mandy Barnett through Andy Paley, pretty much at his bedside when he was very sick with cancer, and she has become a dear friend. I opened for Kimmi Bitter here in Los Angeles and became friends with her. I knew Amythyst Kiah was a cartoon fan, which is so crazy. She's a fan of this show called Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I worked on, and she had been standing in line to get my autograph. I was like, 'Aren't you Amythyst Kiah, and did you stand in line and pay for my autograph? You're getting your money back.' We stayed in touch, and because I wanted to contact her but be professional, I reached out to her manager, Dolph Ramseur, and she came on board.
Did you select the songs for the artists or allow them to choose?
The only song that I had selected ahead of time was, You Don't Know Me. I wanted to hear Rosie Flores sing that one. I said, 'We have got to give it to the Queen first,' because I knew others would choose it. After that, I just asked everyone to please email me their favourite Cindy Walker song, something that resonates with them. I was hoping that they wouldn't be all ballads, because we can't have an all-ballad album. There were a couple of people where I said, 'What about this one? This one might lift the feel the album,' but for the most part, it was just whatever song really connected with that artist. I think that's why the album is resonating so much with people, because each woman is singing something that really rings true to her and has touched them personally.
You make your own vocal contribution on Brennen Leigh's selection; You've Got My Heart Doing A Tap Dance.
I wasn't to sing any song on the album, but I had sung scratch on all the songs. When I sent the song to Brennen with the scratch vocal, angel as she is, she said that we must make the song a duet, and I wasn't going to argue with her.
Was it always going to be all women recordings?
Yes, it was important to me to do an all-female album. Not to be sexist, but enough men have sung Cindy Walker songs and not enough women; men have all had hits with her songs. I have dear men friends who are wonderful country artists, and were saying, 'Hey, aren't you doing a Cindy tribute? And I'm not on it.' But no, it's just the girls, all women, I told them.
The project is going to be a serious fundraiser* for The Cindy Walker Foundation, given how it is shaping up.
I thought it couldn't be a failure. Even if we raised $10, that could put a shingle on that roof or something. I just had the best intentions, and I am pleased that it might actually fix the entire house. It's doing pretty darn well. So, I encourage people to get it on Bandcamp, because that way all the proceeds will go toward the restoration. And, once the house is restored, they want to have songwriting camps there for singer-songwriters and to have a museum where you can see the office where Cindy wrote You Don't Know Me, and the mailbox where she sent off Dream Baby to Roy Orbison to be recorded.
It stands on its own two feet as a great album and hopefully introduces a whole new and younger audience to Cindy Walker's songwriting.
It's so true, I was on a date with this man who loves country music. And he said, 'Who are your favourite songwriters?' And I said, 'Oh gosh. Rodney Crowell, Dolly Parton, Harlan, Howard, and Cindy Walker, of course.' And he goes, 'Cindy Lauper.' He didn't know her, and I named off ten of her songs. He was like, 'You're kidding me. I can't believe that I missed that.' And I thought more people need to know about Cindy Walker.
Interview by Declan Culliton
Details of how to purchase the album and help with the fundraising mentioned above alongside a full list of contributors can be found through this link:
https://greydelisle.bandcamp.com/album/its-all-her-fault-a-tribute-to-cindy-walker