Praise for Send Me Home :

“...a clutch of subtle songs, infused with melancholy, lightened by dashes of humor and an undercurrent of hope... vintage sounds with a modern awareness... All in all, a very accomplished debut.”
- John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music (Read the Whole Article Here)

“The songs that flesh out Send Me Home are redolent of stringband music filtered through the mind’s eye, untainted by the retroactive sentimentality of memory... [these songs] are replete with displaced travelers and seekers, and many of them find themselves wandering by moving bodies of water that are by turn succoring and sinister. Dao Strom, you might say, knows from rivers...”
- John T. Davis, No Depression (Read the Whole Article Here)

“The simple happenstances of an artist’s home and origin can prove to be the incubator that creates pure and lovely music. Such is the case with Austin’s Dao Strom. Born in Saigon, and raised in the historic Gold Rush mecca of Placerville, California, her version of Americana is rich with a tender melancholy and gentle darkness. Send Me Home is full of history, recalling grand traditions of country-western and Appalachian folk and steeped in mountain and gospel imagery. Dao Strom is the real thing.”
- Greg Trout, Magnaphone Music

“This is a story that begins in the Perfume River and ends with Jesus riding in a car. The middle is all broken hearts and broken bottles, the stuff of great country music. Austinite Dao Strom sings a lonely song for the entire world to hear, backed by bassist Kevin Fox and guitar/banjo player Lew Card, and her wanderlust makes for a beautiful album that endears you from the start. Lyrics like “Lost and limber, this world was not made for a left-handed drinker” and “I only miss you when I'm feeling lazy,” tug and tear, while Strom's voice teeters on the verge of cracking every song. Yet it's her visceral lyrics pulling her back and the listener in, making you feel the pillow against her cheek, hear the freeway through her half-cracked windows. She's a storyteller, and a damn good one; her talent for creating narrative can also be read in her book Grass Roof, Tin Roof, which draws from her experience of coming from Vietnam to America. Recorded on a Fifties analong tape machine, Send Me Home is a refreshing bit of nostalgia for a time when Jesus riding in your car was an everyday event.”    - Audra Schroeder, The Austin Chronicle

“If you think that only someone in a trailer park living on welfare can sing the true blues in country music, think again... Despite her being foreign-born, one listen to her vocal inflections and soul of her tone will convince you that she has ‘Americana’ in her blood. The opening cut, ‘Perfume River,’ brings forth comparisons to Emmylou Harris or early Gillian Welch... Dao’s vocal dynamics, how she hangs onto certain words much differently than expected by the listener, gives this such a warm, live feel... All of Dao’s compositions make wonderful musical short stories. The disc moves along so well and captures the listener so strongly that it leaves one wanting more. She has a lot of potential to put among the ranks of the aforementioned Americana divas, as her writing and vocal delivery are as traditional and wholesome as one could want.”
- Twangcast.com

“A voice like Hazel Dickens meets Kelly Willis. The songwriting is very sure, and never predictable.”
- Andrew and Alex Smith, filmmakers/producers of The Slaughter Rule (sountrack by Jay Farrar)

“No weak song in sight.”  - Michael Meade, Skyscraper Magazine

“...[a] modest and intriguing debut.”  - Jeff McCord, Texas Monthly Magazine

“The music made by Dao and her friends on Send Me Home is of a serene beauty... Take a listen and I’m sure you’ll want more.” - Eigen Beheer, Rootstown Music (Belgium)

“No matter how you look at it, Dao Strom's career is interesting. Born in Vietnam, raised in California and based in Austin, Strom is a double threat. She's an accomplished songwriter and an accomplished prose writer... Yes, she does both very well.”    - Jim Beal, San Antonio Express-News