Exploring Identity, Change and Personal Evolution: Patty PerShayla (Photo/Eric Stoike)
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Patty PerShayla has become known for her dazzling live performances and fierce stage presence.
Originally from West Michigan, PerShayla’s interest in music was partially shaped early on by her family, who celebrated live music and hosted backyard concerts in the summer months for friends and family.
She cut her teeth as a multi-instrumentalist and band leader on The Pyramid Scheme and other Grand Rapids-area stages before relocating to Nashville, where she’s resided the past few years as she continues to hone her craft.
“Making music is important to me because I really need somewhere for my aggression and big feelings to go where it feels safe to explore them,” says PerShayla.
“’Cause in a song or in a performance, everybody knows, that’s some version of me, but you can get into the nitty gritty and nobody’s going to really judge you for it.”
PerShayla is currently chipping away at recording a new record alongside drummer and producer David Hempstead.
Electrifying Stages: PerShayla at Meijer Gardens. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
She returns to her home state to play the Lowell Arts’ Sound Check series in Lowell with Big Timmy & The Heavy Chevys at 7 p.m. tonight (March 28), followed by her Local Spins Wednesdays debut at Grand Rapids’ SpeakEZ Lounge at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 1).
The pair of musicians, Hempstead and PerShayla, have spent the winter months hunkered down in the hills of Eastern Pennsylvania at an old schoolhouse turned studio. There amid the quiet backdrop of frozen forests and rivers, they’ve experimented with fresh sounds and new ideas.
“I think, especially for me, as somebody who’s untrained, I don’t follow patterns. And so in almost every song, I trust my intuition and my ears but when I pick up an instrument I don’t know what’s going to happen,” PerShayla says of her writing process.
Much of the new album, at least so far, explores themes of identity, change and personal evolution.
“I’ve been more openly queer lately. And I feel like that was never something that I felt like I needed to explain or really come out with,” says PerShayla.
“So I’m really exploring that kind of thing more and what that means in my little world for me and trying to find the joy in that.”
For PerShayla, who spends many days of the year on the road at venues, festivals and green rooms around the country, balance is important.
“I’ve been going really, really hard for a few years and I finally have a few months to really sit with this new identity. And I guess I mean that in the queer sense, but also I’ve also just been through a lot,” says PerShayla.
“The world is on fire, but maybe I’m also allowed to be gay and dance at the same time. So I’m trying to find the balance between that.”
VIDEO: Patty PerShayla, “I Want It Faster”
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