“An excellent songwriter, she's also an excellent singer with a velvety yet powerful voice. She made the audience laugh, cry, and left them a little amazed. ” - Jackie Roschack
“Cheley Tackett in role of the support act did more honor than I've ever seen an artist. The way she set you up for the main act was phenomenal. After a powerhouse opening followed a beautifully sensitive issue, the singing ability of the Springfield, Ohio-born singer was conclusively demonstrated...Cheley Tackett is a winner! What then followed was still very special, Tackett played the audience with a look of the top artist who stands at a festival like closing headliner goosebumps and wet eyes....Cheley Tackett left the stage to thunderous applause. ” - Jos Van Der Lie
“Cheley's incredibly powerful voice also contains a softness that instantly grabs you, especially when this superwoman is in front of you...a long enthusiastic applause of the audience, which brings Cheley finally tears in the eyes. ” - Christopher Wegner
— CNTRY
“Cheley’s acoustic sets won audiences over from the start, not an easy task for an opener anywhere in the world, her deep powerful vocals and beautiful writing drawing everybody in….. you could have heard a pin drop during her emotional ballads. A really engaging performer, her personality is as big as her voice and her songs were interspersed with amusing and informative stories. The queues to meet her afterwards were testimony to all the new fans she made. ” - Lesley Hastings
“...the epitome of somebody born to strap on a guitar and pour her guts into simple songs a brazen confidence and steely persona give her songs a tough coating to transmit profoundly from feisty performer to receptive listener...we witnessed a thoroughly passionate heart-on-sleeve artist channeling every sinew of her talent into songs that tell the simple story of real life. Artists like Cheley Tackett are worth more than any array of pseudo acts masquerading under a pretense of ‘three chords and the truth’. ” - David
“A real-deal feisty and passionate country singer-songwriter... .A leathery, worn, and very expressive voice and a talent with words and storytelling....I can't think of a song in this vein this good i've heard for over 20 years....just like Mary, Lucinda, and Nanci before her, we will clutch her to our collective bosom and make Cheley Tackett one of our own. ” - RM
“Incredible Nashville artist! ” - Lesley Jane Hastings
“I have to thank a random comment on an Ashley McBryde fan page for coming across Ohio born Cheley Tackett. The pair are friends and frequent collaborators, so of course I had to give Cheley’s music a listen ( incredible!)...seeing her in such an intimate setting was something very special. Playing songs from her recent release "Buckeye" and back catalogue she told us some of the stories behind her writing (often hilarious, sometimes poignant, always interesting) and her rich, powerful and emotional vocals were even better than on her recordings. ” - Lesley Hastings
“...the album truly does contain some excellent songs....I believe this tour (Cheley's) will provide a feast of good music for those fortunate enough to catch one of the dates. ” - Chris Smith
“From the very first few notes I heard I knew I was all about this music....crazy good album....I listened to the entire CD twice, then I downloaded it so I could share it online and share it with anyone I encountered in person. I wanted to scream about it to the world immediately. 'Buckeye' is a great album of pure country music storytelling Track 5 put me at a dead stop. From the very first note, I had to SIT DOWN. 'My Best Dress' (Randall Clay, Ashley McBryde, Cheley Tackett) begins with an acoustic guitar that is so precise and so pretty, I felt like I was sitting at a songwriter round. For someone that can never get enough of songs that tell stories based on history, this wins every prize imaginable. By the time you reach Track 9, 'Crucible Steel (Ashley McBryde, Cheley Tackett), you’re pretty well-schooled as to why this album is called 'Buckeye'....Ohio, along with so many states in the Midwest and Northeast, continue to suffer economically thanks to the loss of industry. One of those industries that went away and hit those regions hardest was big steel....Much of this song walks in the shoes of these people. Once again, true stories and country gold that sadly, I think too many will relate to. It’s a great piece of music. When I listened to 'Used to Feel Good,' (Cheley Tackett, Robert K. Wolf) while reading the lyrics, I was brought to tears. Not making this up. Tears rolling down my face. I’ve not ever heard a song that takes me back to when we were young and we were great and everything felt good because it was new and fun. That time traveled with me through a rough spot where we were lost and weren’t sure what we were going to do with our lives, then gently placed me in another time and place that’s so different, yet even better than it ever was before. Somehow, the writers of this song did that. Cheley Tackett performed that song to perfection. ” - Patti McClintic
“(4 out of 5 stars) Recently when I was researching a feature for CMP, I noticed that k.d. lang had only had two minor successes on the US country chart, and yet so many of her records were obviously good and obviously country. The reason I suspect is that the average listener to country radio stations in the 1980s didn’t want to hear an openly gay artist. How attitudes have changed as in 2015, Cheley Tackett was voted Nashville’s favourite LGBT artist. However, that can only be the favourite of those who have chosen to come out, so there’s still a way to go. Her best- known song Right Side Of History is about the struggle: Love ain’t proud, love don’t hate, Love loves truth and truth can’t wait. This is Cheley Tackett’s third album and most of the songs relate to growing up in Ohio, which is sometimes called the Buckeye State. She wrote or co-wrote them all with the exception of an intense version of Neil Young’s Ohio, which he wrote about the Kent State Massacre of 1970. The arrangement of the opening song, Bitter Girl, echo that Neil Young song. There are some excellent songs here: a dramatic Civil War story, My Best Dress; the feelings of being raised in the industrial city of Portsmouth, Ohio, Crucible Steel; and receiving her grandparents’ regular Christmas gift, $2 Bill. The most poignant song is The Healer which was written after a massacre at a gay bar in Orlando, Florida. It separates the public into breakers or healers, and the song reminded me of Jackson Browne at his best. I could see this becoming an anthem, although it would have been more effective to advocate the obvious solution (at least from a British perspective): gun control. Maybe we will be able to see the reaction for ourselves as Cheley is planning to tour the UK and Ireland later in the year. ” - Spencer Leigh