Sometime late in the year 2000, singer/songwriter/guitarist
Art Perry experienced the profound joys of an official: "Country
Music Day:"
The wife left, the car broke down, and the
tropical fish died.
Over in the corner of the kitchen, he stumbled
across a battered mail-order acoustic guitar that his now former
mother-in-law had once purchased for his stepson. The E string was
missing. He picked it up, tuned it as best he could, strummed a
few chords and quickly realized that he was doomed to return to
a life of musical joy and frustration.
In due time he met Nancy. He loved her voice
and she had some great musical ideas. More importantly she tolerated
him. They fell in love, moved in together and started making music.
Looking for a place to begin recording,
a friend from Art’s work recommend a guy in Philly named,
Kevin Joella. He had a pretty cool track record and didn’t
seem to mind when Art smoked in the studio so long as he kept it
out of the control room. As they later learned, Kevin played a pretty
mean guitar. The basis for The Essentials was formed.
Later they added Eddie Albrecht on drums.
Poor Eddie had initially agreed to just "fill in for a bit",
while another drummer they’d been working with was recovering
from surgery. Well, next thing you know Eddie’s wearing an
Essentials t-shirt while him and Art drank cheap beer at the kitchen
table. He was in.
Louis Vasile was teaching guitar full time.
They needed a bass player. Close enough. Louis was super-talented
and had rock ‘n roll hair. Somehow signals got crossed, Louis
initially thought he was signing up to play guitar, then he saw
Kevin in action and decided that the bass was an expressive instrument
that truly deserved some serious consideration.
Over time they developed a sound that’s
unpretentious and genuinely fun. Music for the music lover who hasn’t
forgotten that above all else music is supposed to provide joy and
pleasure to the listener.
Their new CD "Sunny Day", is a
fascinating and entertaining tapestry of rock, ballads, and country.
Coupled with their distinctly stylistic vocals, pleasing, intelligent
lyrics and first-rate musicianship. It offers a clean break from
the morass of the everyday.
Check them out; Rock ‘n Roll the way
the "Founding Fathers" intended. With melody, harmony
and not a bit of overt foul language.
By the way, Nancy and Art later married.
(Please pity her people.) They spent their honeymoon under the neon
in Wildwood, NJ. |
