“We really fell in love with him,” expresses Neil. According to Kimberly, “He is simply a hard worker. He works as hard with us today as he did on day one with Garth. He’s the kind of guy that not only helps you make excellent, purposeful creative decisions but wise career choices. He has been a great mentor for the three of us. “We have been with Bob for about two years now and he helped pair us up with a producer for our album and acted as ears on our songs vetting the best ones for the album”
debut album released on October 12, 2010. Produced by Paul Worley and Nathan Chapman, the song was not only a chart-topper in the country market but reach #19 on Billboard’s Top 100, showing that the band could cross-over into many different genres. Add to all this, the video, directed by David McClister became one of the most popular on the video charts. According to Kimberly, the inspiration for “If I Die Young” was a cloudy day in Greenville. “It was simply a moment in time when the three of us were headed into the studio to record demos. We had no idea if any ears would ever fall on these songs but it was a moment
REID It was through Bob Doyle that the band was introduced to the newly established Republic Nashville label. The Band Perry signed to Republic Nashville in August 2009 and released their debut single “Hip To My Heart”. The song written by the three Perrys along with Brett Beavers peaked at #20 on the country charts - not bad at all for a freshman effort. The instant success of the Band Perry followed the next year with a song titled “If I Die Young”. “If I Die Young” written by Kimberly was instantly one of the most requested songs on country radio stations across the country. The song bolted to #1 and was included on the band’s self-titled
KIMBERLY when we were living our dreams and our lives together. If everything should come to a screeching halt, we have lived pretty completely in our 27, 22 and 20 years. For us it was a statement on contentment and that we had just enough time. Because at that moment, we had made the most of our minutes. The message is a barometer: Are we making the most of our lives? Are we embracing the time that we have had? Are we loving each other and the friends and family we hold dear? For us it is a happy song... a celebratory song... a song of contemplation.” Neil adds, “When we sing ‘If I Die Young’ live, the people in the audience who sing it with us are all smiling. They definitely have found the focus of the
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song and the way it was written. They are singing it back to us as an anthem rather than a ballad. It is really cool. And people from our 80-year-old grandmother to three-year-old kids love the melody. It has a lot of different faces for a lot of different situations.” Where the songs come from is a shared duty among the three band members. “We usually work in a writing circle,” Kimberly explains. “Reid as the bass player, usually mans the chord structuring. Neil is a really avid reader, so he contributes a lot to the lyrics. And as the singer, I bring melodies to the table. We pile everything in the middle and work through them.”
NEIL Reid adds, “Our writing sessions usually materialize out of practices. When we are off the road, we will have practice sessions and a lot of our material will come from those...moving from the rehearsals to the creative process.” With such a great song as “If I Die Young” receiving such enormous success and reception by the American public, will that be hard to top with future efforts? All three band members agree that the song was pivotal in the success of The Band Perry, especially in the country market, but Kimberly relates that there are songs they like just as much that carry a different meaning and will probably be well received but in a different way.
January 2011, AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT MAgAzINE, 29