AFTER 10 YEARS OF WORK, ONE 48-HOUR WINDOW OPENED UP A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THIS SIBLING TRIO

By: Megan Pacella

Hailing from North Carolina, Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry have been singing harmonies and arranging foot-tapping melodies for more than a decade. Having spent their childhood summer nights on the porch crooning Hank Williams tunes in three-part harmony, making music is old hat for this trio of siblings. But when it comes to Nashville’s country music scene, the Perrys’ latest project—The Band Perry—is one of the newest acts to hit Music Row.

“We started 10 years ago in Mobile, Alabama,” says Kimberly Perry, who, as the oldest of the three, handles lead vocals and guitar for the band. “I was 15 at the time and fronted a band of high school boys … It was hilarious. Reid was 10 and Neil was eight. They were our roadies, but before long, changing my guitar strings and polishing cymbals got old. Next thing I knew, they started a band of their own and my little brothers were my band’s opening act.”

Entering the music business at such a young age might be unusual in most social circles, but not in the Perry family. From traveling around the Southeast in a motorhome with their parents to making a name for themselves on the “New Faces of Country” Tour, music is all the Perry family knows.

“This is all we’ve ever done,” says Reid, the second oldest and the band’s bass player. “I remember getting my first bass for my birthday when I was nine years old. I had to take it off to tune it, because I couldn’t reach it on my shoulder. That’s how long I’ve been playing music. This is all I can remember wanting to do.”

Even though they have been singing and picking on their back porch for years, it took a while for the siblings to hit their stride as one musical act. But once they did, there was no turning back.

“We had been playing in the basement and on the porch together for years,” Kimberly says. “But four years ago the boys needed a real singer, and I was it. We became The Band Perry. We were hired for a spot on the ‘New Faces of Country’ Tour, and after hanging with country musicians and fans, we knew that we belonged in country music.”

Shortly after the tour, The Band Perry started recording songs to send to record labels in Nashville. And what happened in June of 2009 was the big break they had been desiring: The Band Perry signed with Republic Nashville, the latest project in the hopper for Scott Borchetta, one of the city’s most savvy country music businessmen (think Taylor Swift, Justin Moore and Jimmy Wayne).

“We walked into the label without explaining our vision or saying who we were,” Kimberly says. “We laid a CD on the counter, and the next thing we knew, the executives at Republic Nashville wanted to hear us play. We started brainstorming what we were going to play, figuring we had a few weeks to prepare.”

A few weeks became two days when the label called the band in early to showcase their sound. Not ones to lose their cool, the Perrys sat down for the “mother of all cram sessions,” as Reid puts it, and worked on new arrangements for their best songs.

“That was the worst freak out I’ve ever had in my life,” says Neil, who plays the mandolin and recently picked up the accordion as well. “I thought I had two weeks to learn my new stuff, so when I found out the time frame changed to less than 48 hours, I just thought, ‘Oh well, here we go.’”

In the end, a decade of hard work paid off. Only a few hours after The Band Perry finished their session at Republic Nashville, they received the call every struggling artist waits to hear.

“It’s funny how you put all of your blood, sweat and tears into a dream like this, but when the time comes for it to pay off, everything happens so quickly,” Kimberly says. “We were on our way back east when I got the call that they wanted to sign us. It was so exciting, but it was a really humbling moment for us, too.”

The months following June have been a whirlwind for The Band Perry. From doing photo shoots to traveling on a countrywide radio tour to cutting their single, “Hip to My Heart,” for radio play, the Perrys have hardly had time to breathe.

“It’s just so cool to be this young and have this opportunity,” Kimberly says. “But every time we hear more good news about our music, or we gain popularity, we remember how many people have worked hard for us to get here. It literally has taken an army of people who believe in us.”

Still, the band doesn’t have much time to take in their success. They’ve booked studio time for the next few months to record their first album, which is on track to hit stores this spring. Until then, the Perrys plan to do what they do best—work hard at making music.

“We know there are thousands of bands just like us out there,”

Kimberly says. “But we strongly believe that you have to work harder than everyone else. None of this could have happened if we hadn’t put in those years of hard work.”

Despite their success, the Perry siblings make one thing clear: The best part of making it big in Nashville is that they did it together.

“There’s nobody else we’d rather be doing this with,” Reid says. “Making music together is all we’ve ever known.” ✪

www.thebandperry.com

Tags: Fringe 5

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Fringe 5. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.