Lucy Heart Star

by Andi Agnew
December 19, 2007

Lucy Heart Star is one of those “hippie types” who lives in Berkeley, Calif., but she is a Mississippi girl at heart. Growing up in Jackson as Lucy Perry, her earliest musical memories are of singing for cookies at the Olde Tyme Deli (now the site of Julep) at age 3. Like many young Jacksonians, Perry decided to strike out and explore the rest of the world beyond Mississippi. She met and played with local musicians in every town she visited, and when her beat-up Chevy Suburban broke down near Berkeley, Perry decided to make the city her new home.

“Now Is The Time” is Lucy Heart Star’s debut release. The epitome of the female singer/songwriter genre, this album would fit nicely between Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell on a playlist. Perry’s voice is mature and confident, complemented by subdued guitar and minimal instrumentation on most of the tracks. The songs come from Perry’s personal experiences and from literature she finds inspirational. “The Party” and the title track are based on the poetry of 14th-century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz of Shiraz, while the melodic “Halloween Sailors” is based on a story by Richard Brautigan, a San Francisco author and poet.

Just shy of 40 minutes, “Now Is The Time” is brief, but not lacking in quality. The album gains a bit of energy as it progresses, culminating with the electric guitar-tinged “What You Can Do” and winding down with more traditional folk sounds on “Bound to Find Me.”

Perry plans to return to Jackson some time in 2008 to play a show or two in support of the album. Sugar cookies may or may not be accepted for the cover charge.

Go to http://www.lucyheartstar.com, for more information and to order the album.

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