The first thing you notice about Perry Desmond-Davies’ music is her voice: always tender, lyric and melodic, at times soaring, seductive or smoky.
It's a voice that can reach out to touch unguarded parts of the us with joy, nostalgia and longing.
Perry’s honest brand of contemporary acoustic music is about life stories that listeners can relate to. Her original songs range from the bittersweet ballad of a child’s love in "Hey Dad" to the very grown-up adult’s fantasy in "Irresponsible".
While "All I Want" profiles the sweetness of a new love, the emotions running through "Everything is Hard" reflect the realities faced in an established relationship that's in trouble.
She also pays tribute to her favorite influences with selective covers of legendary artists like Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but with a soul and a voice that is all her own.
Perry is a lifelong New Englander, originally from Maine, now living near Boston. She first learned to play piano and guitar at age 9, taking lessons along with her big brother Dave. While Dave went on to become a Leo Kottke sound-alike, P basically got kicked out after a couple years
because she was playing everything by ear and not reading the music.
Undaunted, she followed brother Dave into the local coffeehouse circuit, sort of like a folk version of Tanya Tucker (if you're old enough to remember her intro to the country scene at 15). Life intervened, work became the more important thing, and the music got put on the back burner, "just for now".
It would be another 18 years before she played out in public again.
Fast forward to a once-a-year open mic offering at the Simple Gifts Coffeehouse in Nashua, NH, all those years later. Perry signed up, thinking that maybe if she got out there just one more time she could perhaps overcome this nagging need to share her voice and original music with the world. Alas, it was not meant to be an end, but a new beginning: she had a great time, made about 100 new fans that night, and decided to make it a regular thing.
Perry recently hosted a weekly open mic at The Pleasant Cafe in Maynard,Mass. She had previously hosted the very successful Gathering Place Coffeehouse in Nashua, NH. In August 1998, Perry was chosen as a finalist at Portsmouth, NH’s first annual Prescott Park Arts and Acoustic Festival Emerging Singer-Songwriter competition.
Although she emphasizes her heartfelt original compositions (with good reason), Perry also features unique tributes to John Prine’s "Angel From Montgomery", Gillian Welch’s "Orphan Girl", and a scorching rendition of the classic "House of the Rising Sun".
Once you hear Perry Desmond-Davies, you will never confuse her with anyone else.
