Grey DeLisle – Don’t Turn Around

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Grey DeLisle releases her new album, Don’t Turn Around, today via Hummin’bird Records.

Produced by the late Andy Paley and completed by longtime collaborator Marvin Etzioni following Paley’s passing, the 11-song collection draws from classic country, California roots music, and rockabilly, pairing sharp-witted storytelling with vintage twang and an unmistakably modern perspective.

Among the album’s highlights is the delightfully irreverent “Open Mic at the Stumble Inn,” a rollicking celebration of the dreamers, drifters, and down-on-their-luck characters who find common ground at a neighborhood watering hole.

The song was born at a songwriting camp, where DeLisle heard a fellow songwriter introduce a tribute to her favorite local bar, the Stagger Inn. Struck by the name’s lyrical possibilities, and surprised that it hadn’t made its way into the woman’s song, DeLisle hurried back to her cabin to write one of her own. She changed the name to the Stumble Inn to avoid stepping on any toes. Besides, as she points out, there aren’t many words that rhyme with “stagger.”

The resulting song is a lively, character-filled portrait of an open mic night where musical ambition, liquid courage, and life’s hard knocks collide. It follows three previously released singles that set the stage for Don’t Turn Around, an album preoccupied with the many ways people leave one another and what happens in the moments before and after they do. Lovers drive away, doors close, homes become haunted by memory, and relationships reach their ends. Yet even at its most heartbroken, DeLisle’s writing retains the humor, bite, and resilience that have long distinguished her work. The album’s extraordinary cast of musicians includes Deke Dickerson, Greg Leisz, Stephen McCarthy, Murry Hammond, Chris Scruggs, Tammy Rogers, Bernie Dresel, Mandy Barnett, Mickey Raphael, and special guest Dave Alvin, who joins DeLisle for the duet “You’re Driving Me Away.”

The album’s origins trace back to an unlikely meeting on the set of SpongeBob SquarePants, where DeLisle and acclaimed producer Andy Paley struck up a friendship while working on the animated series. After discovering that DeLisle was also a songwriter, Paley encouraged her to share her music. The first song she played him was “Don’t Turn Around,” sparking a creative partnership that would eventually grow into the album. Following Paley’s unexpected passing in 2024, Etzioni stepped in to complete the project, preserving his friend’s vision while helping bring the recordings to fruition.

Though millions know DeLisle as the voice of Daphne Blake in Scooby-Doo, Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and beloved characters across The Fairly OddParents, The Simpsons, and SpongeBob SquarePants, songwriting has remained a constant throughout her creative life. With Don’t Turn Around, she delivers another richly imagined collection that draws on the traditions of classic country while showcasing her singular gift for storytelling.

Don’t Turn Around is available now on all platforms and via Bandcamp. In celebration of the album’s release, DeLisle will make two upcoming California appearances, performing October 29 at The Belly Up in Solana Beach with Lizzy & The Triggermen and November 11 at The Redwood in Los Angeles with Petunia & The Vipers.

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