Three To Get Ready

I have a new favorite young trio: the Band Perry, which is made up of siblings Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry.

Their first single "Hip to My Heart," which they co-wrote with Brett Beavers, is currently on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

The trio owes its unique sound to its parents. "Most dads would be rocking their kids to sleep singing 'Rock-a-bye Baby,'" Kimberly recently told me for a Billboard story. "Our dad was singing us Rolling Stones songs, and our mom loves country. They definitely cross-pollinated our musical palette."

She describes the group's sound as "modern throwback. We love tons of old country, from (Johnny) Cash to Loretta Lynn to Hank (Williams), but we also love modern music. And we live up in Appalachia, so there's a little bit of bluegrass thrown in now and then."

Kimberly, the oldest of the trio, fronted her first high school band at age 15, employing Reid, then 10, and Neil, only 8, as her roadies. Eventually the brothers formed their own band, which opened for Kimberly's. Four years ago the siblings banded together. "We always knew at some point it would be a family band," Kimberly says.

The trio toured, playing "a little bit of everything -- festivals, churches and clubs," Kimberly says. "Anywhere there was a pair of ears that would sit and listen, our dad was really dogged about getting us the opportunities to play for them."

Raised near Mobile, Alabama, the siblings moved to East Tennessee seven years ago to be closer to, but not live in, Nashville. "Our initial inspiration and songs came from outside Nashville, so to keep one foot in and one foot out was always really important to us," Kimberly says.

The trio teamed with Garth Brooks' manager, Bob Doyle, in 2008 and a year later it signed with Republic Nashville. The group's debut album, which is being produced by Paul Worley (Lady Antebellum) and Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift), is due in 2010.

Speaking of Lady Antebellum, my love affair with that band is not over just because of my newfound discovery. Both acts reaffirm my faith in music done right.