Bursting onto the music scene in July 2024, Nashville singer-songwriter Connor Daly’s debut album, Colors Fade, garnered immediate attention and acclaim, with seasoned music industry reviewers uniformly applauding Daly’s first album. “If you didn’t know the name Connor Daly before, that ends today,” wrote Holler magazine. Maverick followed suit, selecting Daly’s debut album as its Top Pick in the July/August edition (awarding it a perfect rating of 10 out of 10) and declaring: “This was an unexpected album.  Daly absolutely shines on this record… for us, this is exquisite.” And American Songwriter punctuated the early accolades, with Lee Zimmerman proclaiming that Colors Fade “easily qualifies as one of the most impressive debuts of the year.”  

In their review of Colors Fade from Connor Daly, a 25-year-old Virginia native who relocated to Nashville two weeks before the release of his debut album, industry professionals lauded the impressive songwriting and musicianship displayed in this first offering from Daly, calling Daly’s debut album “exquisite”, “honest and intuitive”, “sensational”, and “groundbreaking”:  

“This was an unexpected album. Daly absolutely shines on this record… His tone is truly remarkable, soft but clear. There is also the exact right amount of both instrumentation and production on this record, Daly has a beautiful voice and it’s right that it gets the spotlight it does… Much more on the acoustic and Americana side than a country album, for us, this is exquisite.”  –Maverick  

“There’s no shortage of up-and-coming artists in today’s realms of Americana… However, few of them make as immediate an impression as singer/songwriter Connor Daly… Connor creates a sound that sounds as if it’s resided in the ethos forever, thanks to songs that make an immediate and lingering impression. The melodies resonate through the consciousness and stir the senses, creating an indelible bond that’s memorable, melodic and remarkably resolute… Comprised of twelve original songs, it easily qualifies as one of the most impressive debuts of the year… In truth, it’s difficult to delineate any single stand-out. Every song is as sumptuous, seductive, poignant and personal as the one before… ”   –American Songwriter (Lee Zimmerman) 

“If you didn’t know the name Connor Daly before, that ends today. The 25-year old Virginia native just dropped his debut album, Colors Fade, a collection of lived-in tunes about love, heartache and the hues of emotion that shade our lives.  The dozen-track release marks a long time coming for the singer-songwriter, who has, for years, been honing his song-spinning craft… What has resulted is an album full of honest and intuitive songs, many stripped bare to let their gripping words take hold… Daly flexes his skills across the entire release, deftly traversing weighty themes and artfully weaving personal experiences into striking sing-alongs that not only resonate but seem to understand.”  –Holler (Alli Patton) 

“Connor Daly has crafted tender and merciful country style songs… A collection of heartaches, heartbreaks, caring for our fellow humans and picturesque landscape metaphors, this album confronts life difficulties with a gentle resignation… Connor writes sincere quality songs, mostly of heartaches and sometimes of good times with lovely landscape analogies and just the right turns of phrase.”   –Americana Highways (Elise Cady)

“Hailing from Virginia, but now Nashville-based, singer-songwriter Connor Daly is a new name to me, but based on the evidence of this debut album, someone I’m going to be listening to for years to come. This record is both humble and groundbreaking… Connor’s voice is smooth and exquisite, each musician adding painterly, cinematic elements to create a blend of swirling musicianship, transcendent narratives, classical country and folk depth. This is indeed the finest proof of the enduring need for the album format and should place Connor Daly in the much-deserved spotlight.” –AlanCacket.com

“Emotional intelligence is at the core of this sensational singer-songwriter’s exquisite musicality. At twenty-five, Connor Daly has the world at his feet. Despite his relative youthfulness, Daly maturely analyzes a full spectrum of human experiences in these songs… Daly’s songs are exhilarating in their contemporary style. They are thoughtfully written, immaculately played and stunningly produced… And remember, you saw him here first.”  –Americana UK (Viv Fish) 

With Colors Fade, Daly has arrived on the Nashville scene with a collection of acoustic driven arrangements with poetic stories that cross the full spectrum of human experience. In his songwriting craft, Daly starts with melodies, and the ideas for his songs evolve from there. His artform has created a spectrum of stories that he tells with equal passion, covering themes ranging from the helplessness and pain associated with loss and heartache to the resilience of hope, joy, and love. “When listeners hear my songs, I want them to feel something,” Daly explains.  

The first track on Colors Fade sets the tone with the haunting “Ain’t Got A Cape”. Daly says that he wrote this opening song to “capture the raw emotion and helplessness you feel when a loved one is suffering” and decided to lead with it because “it covers an important topic and sets the authentic tone that flows through the album.” The song has resonated with the audience and critics, alike. The accompanying music video for “Ain’t Got a Cape”, produced and directed by Charlotte Avenue Entertainment with support from the Ashland City Police and Fire Departments, has already received more than 25,000 views on YouTube, along with critical acclaim.  Maverick wrote that the “lyricism and high-tension delivery of the opener “Ain’t Got a Cape” is the perfect sad country track.”  And Alan Cackett agreed: “When his voice peers out from the lonely guitar melody… followed by the haunting fiddle, it feels like the ghostly remnant of the heartbroken floating into the abyss.  Most devastating is the feeling of being unwanted, that he turns into a meditation on masculinity.”  Erick Ycaza from Electro Wow concluded that “what sets him apart is the raw authenticity and honesty in his lyrics.  He ain’t afraid to show that we can’t always be a hero in a relationship.” 

Daly’s artistic story-telling is on full display in the Colors Fade album. The first single from the album, “You In Tennessee”, highlights lilting fiddles swirling as they lift the towering anthem of yearning and hope, an up-tempo country rambler about appreciating the love and beauty right in front of you.  Lush acoustic guitar and orchestral strings lay the foundation for the sprawling country breakup ballad, “Fake One Tear”, a heart-felt duet with singer Mary Heather Hickman, whose crystalline vocals wrap around Connor’s crisp baritone to create spiraling harmonies that tell dueling stories at the heart of the split.  Gentle finger-picking and a velvety vocal tone flow carelessly through “Fallin’ For My Friend,” a tender, shuffling song that that confronts a dilemma when love is springing from a longstanding friendship. The propulsive “Cycle of Us” ascends higher and higher on an exquisite layering of hard drumming and searing lead runs, evoking the circular patterns of a struggling relationship. The jangly mandolin riffs opening “Black and Blue” blossom into layered instrumentation that flows beneath Daly’s aching, raw vocals and conveys the ragged poignance of a broken relationship. The stripped-down “She’s My Summer Sky” – featuring opening rhythms reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” – paints a mesmerizing portrait of a pure love weathering the seasons.  

Although a newcomer to Nashville, Daly spent years honing his songwriting and performance craft before releasing his debut album. Connor was immersed in music from an early age, starting with piano and then classical guitar during his formative years, where he developed the cascading fingerpicking style that shines through his songs today. But his athletic pursuits were also taking hold during this same period, ultimately stealing much of his attention as he became a stand-out in track and field.  Daly concluded his High School athletic career as the Varsity Track Team Captain and the Virginia State Champion in the discus throw.  Earning a roster spot on the George Mason Track and Field Team, Connor went on to compete at the D-1 level throughout college. 

But Daly’s love of music endured, and at the age of 19, alone in his college dorm room, his passion for songwriting took root. With early trips to Nashville and studio work over the next several years, Daly “absolutely fell in love with the process of bringing my own songs to life.”  Honing his songwriting skills and style over the succeeding years – drawing inspiration from top songwriters like Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan, and Ed Sheeran – Daly cultivated a knack for writing and delivering songs in tender vocals that swell with the emotional resonance of the stories and “universal themes that everyone can relate to.” Telling stories through emotionally relatable lyrics and authenticity in spaciously unfolding musical arrangements, Connor Daly’s soothing vocals enrapture and transport listeners to places they have never been.

Today, with nearly 200 songs in his personal catalog, and 6 years of devotion to the art of songwriting behind him, Daly felt that a collection of some of his favorite songs were finally ready for public release. “Colors Fade is obviously my debut album, but it didn’t just happen overnight,” Daly explains. “I worked for years, literally, to get to a place where, as an artist, I felt that my songs would finally be strong enough for listeners to connect with the stories that they tell, and hopefully be moved by the themes they present.”

Following his debut album release show at Analog in Nashville in July, Connor will be playing his songs in writer’s rounds and live shows in Nashville and beyond over the next year. And when he is not writing or performing, you might find Connor in the weight-room or on various golf courses in and around Nashville.