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February 19, 2012
Singer, Songwriter, Artist ...
Lisa Perry talks
about her upcoming
music and art show
By DELANIA TRIGG, Assistant Editor
Gainesville Daily Register
Gainesville —
She’s shared the stage with big name
bands and performed nationwide at fairs,
receptions and
other special events but Lisa
Perry’s artistic roots are in
the solitude and beauty of the West Texas
canyon country.
Perry is set to showcase her
music and her art during
an exhibition planned for 7 p.m., Thursday
at the Butter-
field Stage Theater in Gainesville.
The event will include wine
and light refreshments and
will feature Perry’s guitar and
jazzy vocals as well as her works in watercolor and embroidery.
Tickets are not required but
donations will benefit the Butterfield Stage Players.
Music, art and nature are
closely linked in Perry’s world.
“My maternal
grandmother in Post, Texas would take us out to the canyons and
we’d draw the things we saw,” Perry said. “My
dad’s mother was into working with thread and
textiles.” Embroidery has been one of her favorite
mediums for a long time. “My embroidery art is kind of
the result of things both my grandmothers were teaching me when
I was young,” she said.
Her works are her own
designs — she doesn’t purchase preprinted patterns
or embroidery kits — and Perry isn’t reluctant to
tackle complex themes and subtle details in her embroidery.
“They are totally my creations which I’ve drawn and
composed,” she said. Some of her best works include an
embroidered rendering of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and a
portrait of an eagle — a gift for her brother. Embroidery
can be a painstaking art, Perry admitted. A Grand Canyon piece
festooned with seraphim vignettes took 11 years to complete,
she said.
Making hand sewn projects is
also taxing to both eyes and muscles, she said. Perry uses a
lamp fitted with a magnifier for detail work but said years of
intricate stitching prompted her to find another outlet for her
talent. “After the project that took 11 years, I was
thinking maybe there’s an easier way,” she said.
Perry chose painting. Nature
is a theme she visits time and time again, especially in her
water color works.
A devoted gardener, she said
she finds inspiration in nature. The flowering plants she
nurtures often become subjects for her paintings. “I grow
the flowers from seeds and bulbs and when they bloom I take the
pictures,” she said. “My paintings are done with
the pictures as a reference.” Watercolor is a
user-friendly medium, Perry said, adding, “I love the way
the water moves.”
Thursday’s exhibition
will also focus on Perry’s music — skills
she’s honed since she was a teenager. “I was drawn
to music,” Perry said. “I’ve been playing and
writing music since I was 16. My brother is (also) a musician
and we played together.”
In addition, Perry was
influenced by her grandfather — a cook and musician on
the Santa Fe Trail. “My grandfather and his brother
played for barn dances,” she said. “My grandfather
played the fiddle and my uncle played the guitar. They always
said the horse knew the way home.”
She’s played
Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla. where Johnny Lee and Bob
Wills once took the stage and opened for headliners including
Asleep at the Wheel and Jerry Jeff Walker. She’s also
shared the stage with Bonnie Raitt, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,
John Hartford and Vassar Clements.
Perry is the author of
hundreds of songs many of which are on her original albums
— Canyon Rose, Fractal Rose, Angel Rose, Nostalgia Rose
and Tropical Rose. She said her music would best be categorized
as “Adult Contemporary.”
“I’ve been
influenced by so many different types of music,” Perry
said. “I believe people enjoy the fact that it is unusual
and that it draws from a variety of styles.” While living
in central Florida, she was influenced by steel drums and
percussion. She also said she loves listening to old jazz
standards and nostalgic songs from the 1930s and 1940s.
Perry said she believes
music has healing powers for both body and soul. “Music
has the power to touch people’s hearts,” she said.
“To carry them off into esoteric landscapes. It has the
power to move blockages that we human beings accumulate and
store without realizing what we are doing. Music, at its best,
can help dissipate those blockages and refresh our
energies.”
Lisa Perry’s art and
music performance at the Butterfield Stage is co-sponsored by
the Gainesville Daily Register. The theater is located 201 S.
Denton St. in downtown Gainesville.
Leesburg songbird wants music to heal,
inspire
By CHET CALLERO
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Leesburg, Florida
Singer Lisa Perry is in touch with the
abode of God. How can anyone tell? A good measure is the
heavenly way she performs a song.
The Leesburg mother of three boys
describes her musical performances as "vocal
acrobatics." That's really too simple an explanation for
what happens when she's on center stage. Perry is a versatile
and inspirational songbird. She is also a songwriter, musician
and entertainer. She started to sing professionally when she
was 16. She worked for years in the Midwest, playing concerts
in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado.
She has opened for such stars as Jerry
Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet, and Willie Nelson. She has shared
stages with Bonnie Raitt, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John
Hartford, Vassar Clements and Asleep at the Wheel.
Perry is the author of hundreds of songs,
some of which are showcased on her albums Canyon Rose, Fractal
Rose and Angel Rose. She loves to listen to old jazz or
nostalgic songs form the 30's and 40's. As a big fan of Billie
Holiday and Sarah Vaughn, she performs songs from that era.
This aspect of her repertoire makes her a good choice to
provide entertainment for weddings, receptions or background
music for romantic restaurant dining.
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photo by Lisa Clay |
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She says, "I have been influenced by
so many different types of music. I believe
people enjoy the fact that what I do is
unusual and that it draws from a variety of
styles." Her style has been described:
Lisa Perry's music is rich in melody,
harmony, message and inspiration. Her
original songs represent a blend of influence from nature,
angels, her garden, mountains, Native American symbolism and
ritual, nature spirits and fairies. The songs, whether in live
performance or recordings, are full of healing and
peacefulness, joy and motivation."
"Angel Rose is a group of spiritual
songs," she says of her latest CD recording. "I'm
hoping it will be the kind of music that will cause people to
pause and reflect, and be a comfort or an
inspiration."
Perry also has a Christmas album that
features a few original songs, but is mostly composed of
traditional music.
A review on Perry's style states:
"Lisa Perry has taken on serious topics in her music, but
she doesn't preach at you. The songs have hauntingly beautiful
melodies and are filled with harmonies and strong
instrumentation."
"Sound is a powerful tool,"
Perry said. "It can move blockages and align or balance
our fields and chakras as well as enhance our sense of well
being. That intention goes into every performance I give. I
also incorporate what I have learned in Reiki about the
transference of energy when I sing. I want everyone who hears
the music to receive some kind of healing or enrichment or
awakening. Music is a perfect mode for that kind of energy
transference. The music rises up and moves through me. It
really has a life and energy all its own. I am the channel, the
resonant field."
For Perry that means an almost unlimited
commitment She says that in most of her recordings she does
synchronized multivoice harmony. On many recordings she
performs three different voices. On others, she sings as many
as eight voices.
Her renditions of nostalgic songs are
enchanting to hear. It's especially delightful when she sings
such favorites as "On a Clear Day," "As Time
Goes By" and "Till There Was You."
Perry has been doing a variety of
performances in Central Florida. She has appeared in Orlando at
Barnes and Nobles and Borders book stores and at the Lake Eola
Band Shell. She has performed concerts at Clermont's Mulberry
Inn and Arbors and Eyebrows in Mount Dora. For the past few
years she has played Christmas music at Venetian Gardens during
the holiday season.
Why does Perry sing? She says, "I
think for a number of reasons. Probably the main one is that I
can't not sing. It's very important to me, in terms of relief,
in terms of expression of who I am. In terms of spiritual
guidance and practice. In terms of just keeping myself open as
a creative and artistic person. I have to sing.” Her
voice and style have an ease and gentleness uncommon in today's
roll call of entertainers. Her singing expresses a lilting
layering of musical sounds. Hearing her perform may help you to
understand what she means when she says, "I have to
sing." And chances are, it will probably add joy to your
life, because she does.
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