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Kimberly Perry reflected on The Band Perry’s meteoric rise more than 15 years ago, and the twists and turns in the trio’s journey since then.
Kimberly launched the group with brothers Reid Perry and Neil Perry with a powerful, self-titled debut record in 2010. They quickly became known for “If I Die Young” — which Kimberly wrote solo in her early 20s — “Better Dig Two,” “DONE,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely,” “You Lie” and more. The Band Perry announced in early 2023 that they’d “decided to take a creative break as a group and each focus on our individual creative pursuits.” The group marked a comeback moment in early 2025, playing a hometown show to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts. The Band Perry officially reunited with Kimberly, Reid and Kimberly’s husband, Johnny Costello, in June 2025. Months later, Reid announced his decision to leave the band; however, Kimberly said there’s always room for her brothers on stage if they choose to return.
Kimberly recently caught up with Senior Editor Joseph Hudak on Rolling Stone Nashville Now. The new podcast episode made its debut on Wednesday (February 11). Hudak reflected on the sibling trio’s powerhouse start in the genre, and Kimberly spoke to “the mystery of the disappearance of the band.”
“When I’m brave enough, I love to Google ‘The Band Perry,’ and the top question is ‘why did The Band Perry disappear?’ Which I think is kind of cool. I do. I like the mystery,” Kimberly shared. She went on to reflect on her musical beginnings. She grew up in Mobile, Alabama, absorbing country, blues, worship and other genres (including on some family trips to New Orleans to listen to live music). In high school, Kimberly became the lead singer of her then-boyfriend’s worship band, and hosted band practice at her family’s house. When her bandmates took breaks to play basketball, she and her brothers had their own jam sessions in the living room.
Kimberly detailed her journey in music with Reid and Neil throughout the podcast, including their self-titled record, moving forward with Pioneer, how The Band Perry was faced with having to “compete” with bro country (and her hindsight on that moment now), and more. During the conversation, Hudak brought up Perry’s 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, when she released her Bloom EP, and said, “I have no regrets about the exploration [with The Band Perry], but I do have regrets about not grabbing the reins of our story. There were so many times I was like,’ did we leave, or were we kicked out?’
“Which do you think it is today?” Hudak asked.
“I think it’s a cross of the two. I really do. I think it’s six one way, half a dozen another,” Kimberly responded. “I think — and it’s so funny because I got to make that comment before I’ve come all the way back home to my OG label home. And so, having the perspective of now a couple of additional years to that, I think the redemption story and the transparent conversations we’ve got to have with each other now, with our OG team has been really interesting. I think we were all after the same thing and the same vision for our band. We just thought there were different ways of getting there. But they’re a very powerful force of people, so I think we felt very not supported in that season. But also, I feel like we needed our college years to step away, follow the creative muse, and I think every artist deserves the opportunity to do that, you know? It’s not always about the financial outcome or just keeping the business on the tracks. You know, If that’s the main goal, then you have to make those decisions. But I don’t think in that moment, that was not our main goal. I think it was to be true to ourselves. I think true to our feelings, wearing them on our sleeve, and I do think that our fans have appreciated that from us over the years. You know, I think we’re definitely in the season of rebuilding and redemption and coming back to the things that brought us to the dance in the first place. But I do appreciate that our story has paralleled our own humanity. I’m very proud that we’ve put that out, and I think that’s connected with a lot of our fans over the years.”
“The top-asked question on Google is ‘why did The Band Perry disappear?’ Which, again, I’m sort of like, ‘we should answer that question.’ But also — and we have written a couple songs that you haven’t heard yet because we haven’t recorded them that will answer that question,” Kimberly shared later in her Nashville Now conversation.
The Band Perry will release their new single, “PSYCHOLOGICAL,” on Friday (February 13). Listen to Kimberly’s full conversation with Hudak here.