A Country Music trio consisting of Kimberly Perry (lead vocals) and her two brothers, Neil (mandolin, drums, accordion) and Reid (bass guitar). Signed to Republic Nashville, the band got modest success with "Hip to My Heart", but it was "If I Die Young" that propelled them to mainstream success—the song topped both the country and adult contemporary charts, also reaching #14 at pop. It was also featured briefly as the iTunes Free Single of the Week in 2009. The album also had three more successful singles afterward: "You Lie", "All Your Life" (#1 on the country charts), and "Postcard from Paris".
In 2013 they released their New Sound Album Pioneer, which produced additional #1 hits in "Better Dig Two" and "DONE.", followed by the Top 10 hits "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" and "Chainsaw". A third album, Heart + Beat, was originally slated for release in late 2015, but after its lead single "Live Forever" bombed at radio, the band ended up parting ways with their label. A series of stalled albums and attempts at making a new sound ensued.
Albums
- The Band Perry EP (2010)
- The Band Perry (2010)
- Pioneer (2013)
- Coordinates (2018)
Tropes present:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Chainsaw" has "bu-ry the hatchet".
- Band of Relatives: Not only are they an example, but so are their frequent co-writing partners The Henningsens, another Band of Relatives consisting of father Brian, and his son Aaron and daughter Clara.
- Break-Up Song: "DONE." and "Chainsaw". The former is mostly just a statement of how she's "done" with him, and in the latter, she uses a chainsaw to destroy the tree in which they carved their initials.
- Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: "If I Die Young". Todd in the Shadows had a lot of fun trying to figure out the logistics of this funeral arrangement.If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song - Chainsaw Good: "Chainsaw"
- The Cover Changes the Gender: Bizarrely averted in their cover of "Gentle on My Mind" for the Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me soundtrack, which leads to Kimberly singing a line about her beard.
- Darker and Edgier: Pioneer. "Better Dig Two" is about a woman who loves a man a little too much and says that the grave digger had "better dig two" if one of them dies. "DONE." is the hardest rocking song they've done yet.
- The Four Chords of Pop: "If I Die Young" uses IV-I-V-vi.
- I Like My X Like I Like My Y: "Hip to My Heart" begins with "I like your lips like I like my Coca-Cola / Oh, how it pops and fizzes".
- If I Can't Have You…: "Better Dig Two" can be read this way, though that was probably unintentional.
- Mood Whiplash: A sweet song about how the singer and her lover carved their names and a little heart in a tree to signify their everlasting love suddenly takes a sharp right turn:I came out here to see it one more time...
- New Sound Album: Pioneer is very harder rocking compared to The Band Perry. This continued with all subsequent attempts, to the point that the 2018 EP Coordinates is electronica.
- No Animals Were Harmed: The music video for "Chainsaw" features a large number of trees getting chopped down with chainsaws. A disclaimer at the end states that the video was shot at a renewable tree farm in Oregon.
- Outliving One's Offspring: "If I Die Young" has the singer request God to turn her into a rainbow after her death to reassure her mother that she was safe in Heaven.Lord, make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby - Rearrange the Song: The pop version of "If I Die Young" remixes the song with more electric guitar and a heavier back beat.
- Small Town Boredom: "Independence".
- Teenage Death Songs: "If I Die Young" has it right there in the title, as its about a young woman pondering what would happen if she died young.
- That Liar Lies: "You Lie".
- Wham Line: "All Your Life" sounds like a sweet ode to a lover, until "You could be the centerpiece of my obsession / If you would notice me at all".
- Yandere: "Better Dig Two" seems to imply this.
