Bill Perry ranks among the best of a new generation of blues performers. Â Heâs a stunning guitar master, or, as Guitar One put it, a âsix-string superman more powerful than a locomotive.â Heâs also an intense, highly expressive singer and a superb songwriter. Â His music reflects his New York City sensibility – passionate and somewhat menacing.
Born and raised in the Hudson River town of Chester, New York, Bill was presented his first guitar at the age of five. Â âRight away,â he says, âI could play the theme from âBatman.ââ Â Like Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, Perryâs parental heritage is half Afro-American and half American Indian, and he grew up in a household surrounded by gospel and blues music. Â âMy father used to listen to Jimmy Smith and B.B. King, and my grandmother played organ in church, so I was always around this kind of music.â
Eventually Bill gravitated to the rock sounds of the 60âs. Â His favorite guitarists were Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, and Johnny Winter. It was his discovery of their sources of inspiration that led him back to the blues.