Featured Artist

Anne-Marie Perry - Guitar, Singer-Songwriter
John Landrum - Lead Guitar
Doug Myers - Bass
Hays Hall - Drums
Robin Hall played Bass and Keys on their CD.

Green Bracelet captivates their fans with their seventies rock sound and an eighties rock undertone. The band, which is based out of Atlanta, got its start in spring of 2006. Anne-Marie Perry, singer-songwriter and guitar player of Green Bracelet tells how the band came together, “I played in a band with my drummer [Hays Hall] briefly for about a year and that’s how I knew him. I’ve known him just around the music scene. My husband, who is my lead guitar player [John Landrum], actually I met through a mutual friend. I was looking for a lead guitar player and he applied for the job. I swore I’d never date anybody in my band and now we’re married. And my bass player [Doug Myers] is just somebody I met on My Space… They are all top notch, great players - every one of them.”

The band’s name, Green Bracelet, was originally a song. Anne-Marie states that “‘Green Bracelet’, I co-wrote with a friend [David Castle]. He’s like a poet; he’s very lyrical. We co-wrote the lyrics and I wrote all the music to it.” When in search for a band name, Green Bracelet just stuck. Anne-Marie states “There’s no big great meaning behind it. I like the lyrics and the song. From a marketing standpoint, I make hand beaded green bracelets and give them out at shows… People remember the band because they get a green bracelet, and it makes just a beautiful logo.” The song ‘Green Bracelet’ was influenced by a love story in the book Atlas Shrugged. Anne-Marie explains that “I’ll have to be real careful because we are not an Atlas Shrugged fan. That’s a very political book. Some people don’t like Ayn Rand’s teachings or ideas but the book itself had a great love story in it. And that’s kind of where the idea of the song came from. He made a bracelet out of green metal for someone, and she didn’t really appreciate it. But another woman was in love with him and was rich and said ‘I’d give away everything to wear that bracelet proudly because he had developed this new type of metal. So there’s a little story behind it… It’s just like you read a book and it gives you an idea of something.”

Anne-Marie was raised in the music scene. Her father was a self-employed, full-time country western musician. “I just knew from a really early age that that’s what I wanted to do,” she describes “I grew up listening to Hank Williams and Chad Atkins and Roy Clark and all those ol’ guys. I started getting into rock-n-roll with an older brother and discovered Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath… I started playing guitar when I was really young. I just picked up my father’s and said ‘Show me. Show me.’” Since then Anne-Marie began playing out professionally in 1994, she started playing acoustic solos which led to the rock band. Now she has become involved with many projects. She describes, “I’ve got my hands in a lot of different pies right now. Green Bracelet is my main music project, but I also do solos under Green Bracelet Unplugged simply because it just helps promote the name… I also have a small recording studio that I record other singer-songwriters, and I’m in the process of getting my songs in a licensing deal trying to move towards movie and television with songwriting… I get out there and rock, but I’m looking for something that’s going to carry my career for the rest of my life and songwriting is a great way to do that.”

Anne-Marie recently began co-writing with other singer-songwriters such as Lysa Parker. They co-wrote ‘This is Not My Life.’ Anne-Marie describes “That was really a fun one. She would bring me poems and I would literally put all the music to it, all the vocal melody, and everything. That was a real challenge for me because the way I always wrote was I wrote the music first and then put words to it. But yeah, that’s one of my favorite. We even had an artist record it in Europe.”

Some of the songs written by Anne-Marie tell stories of unrequited love such as “Masterpiece” and “I’ve Got It”. Anne-Marie describes that “‘Masterpiece’ is about a slave before the civil war that is in love with her master. [It takes place] at the beginning of the civil war. That’s why the opening line is ‘the landscape turns red with our fighting.’ It’s just a love story… I was looking up my family history… I heard a very interesting story about one of my great, great uncles, who was in love with one of his slaves. That’s just kind of where the idea came from. But it’s basically about being in love and you can’t do anything about it.” She continues by telling about the song “I’ve Got It”, “that’s just a silly ditty. It was fun. I came up with these guitar licks and I liked them so much. There’s really no meaning behind the words or anything. The words started pouring out and it’s just nothing more than yet another about unrequited love.”

As a singer-songwriter, Anne-Marie says majority of her songs are not written about her personal experiences but by her observations and the world around her. She states “That’s really funny about me. I’m very closed with personal. Ninety percent of my songs have nothing to do with me. They’re not biographical, not diary, they’re not anything that I’ve experienced. I keep my personal life out of my songs a lot. If I’m writing from a personal experience, I’ll write it in a way that you will never know. I’ll give you an example, ‘Here Kitty, Kitty’ is from a personal experience. But it’s a double-entendre. I met a guy that loved cats as much as I do. And I was like ‘All right!’ because I have met a lot of dog lovers in my life. That’s really how that song came about. It’s just talking about my guy that loves my cat but a lot of people think it’s dirty, like really sexual, but it’s not. Like when he comes home with the cat toys, they’re cat toys for the cats. But most of my songs are not from personal experience.”

“Goodman” begins as a soft ballad and crescendos into a full rock sound. Anne-Marie describes that “It was written about David Koresh in Texas. The idea behind that song came from people like him – the overzealous guys with a Bible… I met a guy in Houston that always had a Bible with him and he sold Bibles like in the movie ‘Paper Moon’, but he was a real hypocrite. He wasn’t Christian; he partied on the weekends. The idea came from people like him who hide behind the religious idea but they’re not really true Christian.”

As head of the Atlanta Chapter for GoGirls Music, Anne-Marie not only has passion for her own music but encourages and mentors other musicians in their music. She recognizes that the Atlanta music scene is a tough town - especially for rock music. As local musicians are competing with regional and national touring acts, there are fewer venues at times. The economy also has an effect on the musicians, but she ensures her fans that Green Bracelet is weathering the recession. They are hanging in there. Anne-Marie also encourages other musicians that “If you’re a good band and you’re good to your fans and you keep thinking of creative ways of getting out there. You’ll ride this out. Your fans will come see you.”
 
Green Bracelet is getting ready to travel again. Anne-Marie states “Last year we played in Austin, TX at the Big South by Southwest. We’re gearing up to being a more regional band again. We’re seasoned musicians. We’ve all been there and done that with touring packed in a little van, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s rough unless you’re at the point where you’re getting paid to play at festivals and that’s where we’re at.” Green Bracelet will be performing at two festivals in May - the Hoopee Jam in Swainsboro, GA Festival and Homefest in Loganville, GA. They will also be performing at the Get Out to Live Music sponsored show at the Barking Leg’s Theatre in Chattanooga, TN along with other GoGirls bands.

Anne-Marie shares her dream. “I would love to have a hit song on the radio worldwide and play Madison Square Gardens. I had a little bit of air play on 99X… so I’ve tasted it. I’ve played with some pretty famous bands but I’ve always been the opening act. I’ve not given up on that dream and I won’t. Lucinda Williams was one of my mentors. She was older than I am when she had her big hit record break out.” Anne-Marie is encouraged by Lucinda’s achievement.  “If she can do it, I can do it. I just know in this day and age, I’m taking a different route. The record labels don’t come to your gigs. Just get your stuff on iTunes, get your stuff out there. Bands now have to promote a lot themselves. It is a lot of work but if you want to plant a garden, you’ve got to get in there weed and hoe and water and get your hands dirty. It’s all part of it.”

A message from Anne-Marie to Green Bracelet’s fans…
“‘Chop wood, carry water.’ That’s my philosophy in whatever you do in life. It’s an old Chinese proverb meaning anything you want to get out of life; you’ve got to put a lot into it too.”

Anne-Marie is head of the Atlanta Chapter for GoGirls Music who is an enthusiastic sponsor for Get Out To Live Music. GoGirls Music will be our Feature Musician for March, so look forward to hearing more about GoGirls Music and their mission.