so i've been rummaging around for new female country singers. i don't know how i left out kimberly perry of the band perry, who's as good and interesting as any of these artists. unlike some of the people in that previous entry, the band perry is not a nostalgia act or a tribute to traditional country music; like taylor, they're recognizably country, but they also have a very contemporary pop sound. a good example might be the first single from their fine second album, pioneer.
that song has the little bit of morbidity that people have come to associate with the band perry since their breakthrough single 'if i die young.' and it also has characteristic shifts of mood from gentle to intense, both musically and emotionally. it reminds me perhaps of bobbie gentry's "ballad of billie joe" from back in the day; it's very theatrical.
my 12-year-old daughter jane loves this stuff, and i think the morbid/country-goth streak is part of the attraction, kind of like pretty little liars. but death is by no means the theme of all of tbp's songs, which run the gamut. check, for example, the title track of the new album. it has an unusual and timely theme for a country song, but also makes contact with the tradition at all points.
it's hard to tell from recordings anymore whether someone can really sing. but were i guessing, i'd say kimberley can sing like hell. here's one of their strongest lyrics (and their lyrics are often a bit better than they need to be).
and really kimberly can go into many different modes, from rowdy to sultry to heartbroken. here's the rowdy mode, which is dominant among nashville women right now.
if you can't sell a hundred thousand copies of that to country fans, you can't sell anything to anyone. one thing that i do like about taylor and kimberly is that they're connected to the tradition without constantly emphasizing that fact by mentioning hank williams or loretta lynn. they show country as a living tradition in a compelling way.
also even though tbp and taylor swift are recognizably of the same genre, kimberly is definitely not in any way a taylor imitator; i think she has a very fine country voice: strong with a soaring upper register.
