Exploring Identity, Change and Personal Evolution: Patty PerShayla (Photo\/Eric Stoike)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0 <\/p>\n SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO<\/em><\/p>\n Support our coverage of Patty PerShayla<\/a> has become known for her dazzling live performances and fierce stage presence. <\/p>\n Originally from West Michigan, PerShayla\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n 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\u2019s resided the past few years as she continues to hone her craft.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking 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,\u201d says PerShayla. <\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Cause in a song or in a performance, everybody knows, that\u2019s some version of me, but you can get into the nitty gritty and nobody\u2019s going to really judge you for it.\u201d<\/p>\n PerShayla is currently chipping away at recording a new record alongside drummer and producer David Hempstead. <\/p>\n Electrifying Stages: PerShayla at Meijer Gardens. (Photo\/Chelsea Whitaker)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She returns to her home state to play the Lowell Arts\u2019 Sound Check<\/a> 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\u2019 SpeakEZ Lounge<\/a> at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 1).<\/p>\n 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\u2019ve experimented with fresh sounds and new ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, especially for me, as somebody who\u2019s untrained, I don\u2019t follow patterns. And so in almost every song, I trust my intuition and my ears but when I pick up an instrument I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d PerShayla says of her writing process. <\/p>\n Much of the new album, at least so far, explores themes of identity, change and personal evolution.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve 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,\u201d says PerShayla.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m 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.\u201d <\/p>\n For PerShayla, who spends many days of the year on the road at venues, festivals and green rooms around the country, balance is important.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019ve also just been through a lot,\u201d says PerShayla. <\/p>\n \u201cThe world is on fire, but maybe I\u2019m also allowed to be gay and dance at the same time. So I\u2019m trying to find the balance between that.\u201d<\/p>\n VIDEO: Patty PerShayla, \u201cI Want It Faster\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
West Michigan’s music scene<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.localspins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pershaylabywhitaker-156x300.jpg\")
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