Today we’d like to introduce you to Gentry Blue.
Hello Gentry Blue; thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey, I’m Lydia Gentry, the lead singer, and violinist of Gentry Blue! We were first formed as a student group at Belmont University around early 2019, occasionally jamming with other students. This was also how I met my fiance, Brendan DeBonis, who was initially our first drummer and is now our guitarist. Through lots of practicing and songwriting, even through quarantine, we played a decent amount of shows in the Nashville area and a couple of festivals in Missouri! In April of 2021, we released our first EP, Pyrite and Steel, with too much excitement. After some reforming and life changes, we added Will Gibson into our fray on bass, then a bit later down the road Kaleb Kinyon on the drums. In May, we released one of our favorite songs as a band, “Tell Them I’m Insane,” which is a fictional story about a woman who tries to get away with the murder of her family, along with an accompanying music video (featuring all of us in 50’s outfits!) Seeing the reaction and love it has been getting has been exciting! We’re currently focusing on writing our first album as a band, hopefully releasing in mid-2023. In the meantime, we have a live-in-studio EP that we’ll release on September 29 and a couple of singles afterward.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think there is a lot of good in this world, but it can sometimes be very tough to navigate. It’s hard when others say nasty things to you about your craft; it is tough not to take that personally. It is also hard when others don’t believe in you. Getting into a creative block is another one! It’s been a smooth road with some big bumps along the way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our specific genre of music is fairly niche: female-fronted ’60s and ’70s influenced psychedelic prog-rock infused with the electric violin! Try saying that five times fast. As serious as we may seem, we still love to have a lot of fun with our music. We love writing a seven-minute-long song with multiple sections, yet we still love a great song meant for radio play. We like to think that we have a very nerdy side to us if it’s not obvious yet. We are big fans of the band Rush, especially myself! We have a tradition of ending every one of our shows with the classic “Working Man” from their first album. It’s quite a show stopper, and we have a blast playing it every time (you’ll have to see it live!)
What makes you happy?
I think I can answer this for all of us, but a good solid answer is great times with each other. We always have a blast each meeting and practice, and we’re all super tight-knit and close. We have movie nights, game nights, and going to the lake to go floating, and we love a good night on the town. Will once had a party on Mardi Gras where he cooked us some incredible gumbo with crab legs. It was remarkable, however, on the other side. There have been dark moments in each other’s lives, even just in the past year. But we will be there for one another regardless of the circumstance. I think our friendship ties us together.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gentryblue.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gentry.blue/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gentrybandrocks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4utVEsz7jtq2kIe36WYWWw
Image Credits
Jackson Campbell, Tab Petzoldt, Taylor Rose
