The Band Perry took the stage at Riverbend Music Center on Sunday night in front of a background that said “We’re The Band Perry & We Play Country Music.” Simply stated that is exactly what they did to warm up the crowd for Luke Bryan and headliner Tim McGraw. The band is as traditional a country act and as they play you will ever hear every possible string instrument present and meaningful songs that resonate within the culture of the genre. They are country music’s newest crossover act with their smash hit single “If I Die Young” reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 on the pop charts. They are merely a humble family band made up of siblings from Mississippi that take pride in their songwriting and classically trained musical talents. After listening to their chart-topping self-titled album, it is not hard to see why they are the hottest young group in country.

 

The crowd sang along as Kimberly started their newest hit song “You Lie”- dedicating it to all the cheaters with an intro from the Rihanna/Eminem hit “Love the Way You Lie.” It was not hard to see that many of the fans at Sunday’s show came just to see The Band Perry.

 

Amy caught up with Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry on Tuesday after the show to discuss the band’s show this past weekend in Cincinnati. They talked about the current tour hazards of being on the road with Tim McGraw and the band’s innocent nights out.

 

Amy: What’s your craziest Tim McGraw tour story so far?

 

Kimberly: Our craziest Tim McGraw tour story? I’ll tell you this. There have been so many injuries on the “Emotional Traffic” tour. Everything from the king of the tour, Tim himself, he had his broken ankle. We had our guitar player who broke his collarbone in three places riding his bike.

 

Reid: Luke Bryan actually got in a fight with his bass player and his guitarist actually broke his arm. We have had everything from scratched knees to broken bones.

 

Kimberly: We need an emergency room on our tour.

 

Reid: But the cherry on top is actually on the tour in Washington. There was a fight that broke out right in front of us on stage in the crowd and Tim McGraw actually broke it up. It was actually pretty cool.

 

Amy: This sounds dangerous. Are you looking forward to getting to Keith Urban and getting off the “danger” tour?

 

Reid: We are having a good time but we are just hoping to make it out without any injuries.

 

Amy: Well I know that Neil just turned 21. Have you had any birthday party celebration yet?

 

Neil: You know what, I have never eaten so many cakes like I did on my birthday. Tim brought me a cake. The band gave me a cake and one of the songwriters made cupcakes.

 

Kimberly: The most amazing thing was the whole arena that night sang “Happy Birthday.” There is nothing like 20,000 people plus Tim McGraw singing “Happy Birthday” to you.

 

Amy: It’s hard for me to believe that you just had cake on your 21^st birthday.

 

Neil: I will admit that we were at a casino but the funny thing is we never really had time for gambling or anything.

 

Kimberly: That’s the thing. We have never really been big troublemakers in the first place. We are like workaholics. So there was no time for anything.

 

Reid: I wanted to let him try to gamble with some of my money and see if he had beginner’s luck and see if he could win big then we could split the winnings three ways of course.

 

Amy: Well it sounds like you need a fun trip to Vegas.

 

Kimberly: You’re on. We’ll meet you there.

 

Amy: I am interested, you guys are obviously a family and I know you get asked about that all the time and about how you travel together. Do you have other family members with you or is it just the three of you?

 

Reid: Just the three of us siblings.

 

Kimberly: Our mother comes out with us too.

 

Neil: Mom comes out with us. She’s everything from the band’s stylist to assistant. Dad stays at home and mans the fort. He takes care of our calendar and comes out if we need immediate assistance.

 

Kimberly: It certainly is the family business.

 

Reid: We’ve also hired cousins since we have ran out of siblings to also help out.

 

Amy: Do you guys still live in Greeneville, TN?

 

Kimberly: We do when we are not on our tour bus. It feels like we really live on the tour bus now, but we love our little mountain town.

 

Amy: It’s a beautiful, beautiful place. You have taken home a lot of awards this year. Aside from that, what has been the highlight for your 2011 so far?

 

Kimberly: That’s a great question. I think for us, being out on the road and getting to be with the family and seeing our fans sing “You Lie” and “If I Die Young” with us; that’s been an amazing experience. “If I Die Young”  is “a little song that could.” It has gone double-platinum and is halfway to going triple-platinum right now and getting to hear it on pop radio is surreal hearing country music on the other side of the fence. So it has been this really amazing ride this whole year.

 

Amy: You talk about “You Lie” and I know you obviously love performing that live. I can tell you’re having a lot of fun every time I see you sing it. I know you guys talk about that being an anthem for those who have been cheated on. Is that from personal experience?

 

Kimberly: Yes and no. I think that we have had some close friendships go awry over the last year or so. But for us, it has been sort of like an anthem for those who have been cheated on, and it is a future warning against it with us.

 

Reid: We have heard a lot of stories on the road about how “If I Die Young” has inspired people and now we are starting to hear stories about “You Lie” from fans. We actually heard one woman who said, “This song is my anthem. My husband was cheating on me.”

 

Kimberly: The day that she found out her husband was cheating on her she heard the song. It is sort of like was her battle cry.

 

Amy: It’s a different kind of anthem. What has been the biggest life change for you guys in the past year other than never getting off the bus?

 

Kimberly: That’s the one.

 

Reid: Yeah. Honestly people say you don’t get as much sleep when this all starts. We are happy if we get 5 hours of sleep a night so we sleep when we can.

 

Kimberly: We are a hard working band for the last year. We pride ourselves of being a blue-collar working band.  There is a little misconception that there is a lot of glitz and glamour all the time. I will say that being in music has the highest of highs, but it is a lot of hard work. Last year we spent 19 days at home and there will be fewer days at home in 2011. It really is about the grind and at this point our endurance is up and we love what we are doing.

 

Amy: I always ask this question. I think it feels appropriate for you guys at this point. What has been the greatest rock star moment so far?

 

Kimberly: The greatest rock star moment I would say is the performance at the CMT Award which was kind of a breakout moment for us because it was a rocker song . It was a cool performance and we had the stage built like we really wanted it and it was a really huge page turner for us to perform “You Lie.”

 

Amy: At the CMA festival at LP Field, you guys were playing in front of 60,000 people. Do you ever get stage fright?

 

Reid: I feel like when it comes to performing live that’s what we like to do. That’s where we are comfortable.

 

Kimberly: That particular performance was interesting because it was a different kind of feeling that I have had on stage before. It was almost like everything was in slow motion but my adrenaline was pumping so much because I could not believe that there were 60,000 people cheering for us. There is so much power in a sea of people. All these camera flashes create an out of body experience.

 

Amy: One of the last questions I have is I am interested in you guys going out on the road with Keith Urban in the fall and Reba. What are you most looking forward to with that tour?

 

Kimberly: We are going to be up in Canada and that will be our first Canadian run. We are really, really excited to get North of the Border with Reba. She is a red head so it has to be fun.  She is the quintessential artist and we think it will be really cool.

 

Reid: Anyone that has been around as long as she has and can still be rocking, we can’t wait to watch her.

 

Amy: Thank you guys so much for your time and it’s nice to finally talk to you in person.

 

Kimberly: Let’s go to Vegas.