7ucky Vita
Dana Perry.
Dana Perry was ready for creative risks.
Madison musician Dana Perry calls it “the spark” — the moment when inspiration returns after experiencing a creative block.
Following what she calls “a three-year slump” in songwriting and releasing music, Perry has written and and recorded her eighth studio project — a six-track EP aptly titled The Spark, which was released March 20. Like her previous projects Now & Again (2023) and Tunes on the Battlefield (2021), this latest album features Perry’s commanding, earthy vocals and urgent, propulsive guitar strumming. Her lyrics — sometimes playful, sometimes profane — focus on transformation.
Perry credits “intense global energies” that touch us on “internal, individual levels” for inspiring her return to songwriting.
“A lot is going on in the energies right now,” says Perry.
The Spark draws heavily on notions of self-evolution, self-discovery and movement towards self-love — themes that have influenced Perry’s lyrics since she began writing music in her early 20s. It’s because of these recurring themes that she describes herself as an “evo-folk” or evolutionary-folk artist.
The pre-chorus and chorus on the title track artfully layer these global-internal interactions and Perry’s philosophies of self-evolution in a few lines:
‘Cause the whole world went to shit, and I felt the hit, and I watched it rattle itself apart.
And I can feel all this cosmic shit is shifting.
Yes, it’s game, set, match and this match is lit.
Where do we want to go? We’re on the train of transformation.
What do we want to be? I’ll surrender to the spark, the fire of all creation lives in me.
This newest project still “very much sounds like Dana Perry,” she says, but she also took creative risks — “the next logical steps” in her artistic growth.
She points to the title track as characteristic of those risks. On it, she asked her longtime drummer Jenna Joanis to use pots and pans, along with other auxiliary percussion, to create the bridge. Perry also mentions “Mantra of Song,” the longest track she has recorded to date, clocking in at just over six minutes. It features string instruments, piano, three-part harmonies and electric guitar, stacked and interwoven to create a deeply dynamic sound that she calls an “epic ode to the form of music and songwriting.”
Perry is a 15-time winner at the Madison Area Music Association (MAMA) Awards, in categories ranging from Acoustic Guitarist of the Year (2019) to Best Female Vocalist (2021). After moving to Madison in 2013, Perry was “always just a local musician that participated in the awards,” but in 2024, Rick Tvedt, MAMA’s founder, asked Perry to be the executive producer of that year’s award show. It was her love for the organization and the ways it supports local musicians that compelled her to say yes. Perry has since taken on the executive director position at MAMA where she is “still getting her feet wet” but “definitely getting a solid handle on things.”
Perry also books local musicians as the music coordinator for Cargo Coffee on East Washington Avenue. When she took the position in 2019, the coffeehouse had sporadic performances and she saw an opportunity to “create a community where a spectrum of folks can build shows and play together” in the space. Now, she books two local acts every Friday and Saturday night, and coordinates open mics and open jams every Sunday.
Perry’s reverence for Madison musicians is absolute.
“Musicians in Madison aren’t scared to run with a creative idea,” she says. “They’re inspired, they’re DIY — they do their own music videos, posters and shows. They are great at getting an idea and building it.
“A lot of us in the music community can tell you, it feels like we’re our own little town within a little city. I love that, and it’s one of the things that keeps me inspired.”
The Spark is available for streaming on Perry’s Bandcamp page. Her next performance in Madison is at Gamma Ray Bar on May 26 at 5 p.m as a part of a songwriter night put together by Celina Joan. Perry is set to be joined on stage by her longtime bassist, Dan Kennedy.
