Nate Perry never thought that his five-piece Americana-rock band would be playing New England’s largest music festival.
As a Boston-based group, Perry told MassLive that Boston Calling was “something that we always thought about,” but never expected to book.
Perhaps the turbulence of hopping from band to band was what left Perry doubtful. The singer/songwriter had been a part of several acts before forming — what he considers to be his first real band — Nate Perry & Ragged Company three years ago.
The band will make its Boston Calling debut when the group takes the Orange Stage at 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.
Perry hopes the band’s biggest gig yet will continue its momentum by proving its live performance chops, attracting “important people” and lead to booking more festivals in the future.
“We’ve moved from playing bars, to playing breweries, to playing small festivals, to playing very big festivals. We’ve never plateaued,” Perry said. “We’re continuing to go up in that direction and I want to, from this, to slingshot forward and continue to move in the direction that we’re moving.”
Lead guitarist Mike Chandler also told MassLive that playing Boston Calling “is the most important thing in the world to us right now,” but added what Nate Perry & Ragged Company does with the opportunity is “slightly more important” than actually playing the festival.
Chandler and Perry recognized early on that they would have to “do all the work” to get to the Boston Calling stage. A major part of that was fine-tuning the band’s songwriting, which historically wasn’t always the best.
Consisting of five members with different playing and songwriter styles, the former iteration of Nate Perry & Ragged Company “sounded like a cover band” and “ wasn’t cohesive at all,” according to Perry.
“People would ask us, ‘oh, are you guys like, are these covers, are you guys a cover band?,” Perry recalled. “There was no real identity with those bands.”
That realization promoted Perry to become the sole songwriter and guide the band in a new direction — one that involved more impactful writing.
“We kind of collectively looked at who we were, who we wanted to be and the work that we were going to have to put in to get to where we wanted to be. And that was a mix of things,” Chandler said.
“It was writing meaningful, honest, real good songs that we thought people would like, things that people could get behind, and identify with and sing along with,” he continued, “while also still coming from a genuine place of musicianship and authenticity.”
Nate Perry & Ragged Company’s sound is largely influenced by Nashville — a city where Perry spent most of his time while serving in the military. He was stationed roughly an hour north of the city at the infantry in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Perry and his fellow recruits would often drive into Nashville on the weekends. But while the rest of the crew was focused on hanging out at bars and meeting girls, Perry had his sights set on music.
“I would always just get almost entranced by these absolutely professional cover bands that were playing on Broadway,” Perry said. “I was just so impressed by their ability to play these four-hour sets, all day, every day and just rip all these songs.”
After two years, Perry realized he didn’t want to be in the military anymore and instead wanted to pursue music fully. He left the Army in late 2017 or early 2018, returned to Boston and went to college. Perry didn’t get involved in music until he joined a band in 2019, but was quickly “fired from it for being too much of a blues singer,” he recalled.
Perry then searched for bands in need of singers on Craigslist, where Chandler had posted an opening for a lead singer for his band Rockwood.
“Nate said he was too bluesy for the other one. Well, I said that’s exactly what we’re looking for. We need someone who is more bluesy,” Chandler recalled.
Rockwood, however, didn’t end up working out, but Perry and Chandler did. The duo then sought out to create a new band and enlisted drummer Sam DeMello, bassist Connor Milligan and keyboardist Ollie Nash to officially form Nate Perry & Ragged Company in 2022.
The band released its first single “Maria” in 2023, with its debut EP, “The Otherside of Everything,” following in 2024. Nate Perry & Ragged Company most recently released the single “Count on You” — an emotional track that details the importance of a needing a partner to help navigate hard times — on Tuesday, May 6.
Released just in time for the group’s Boston Calling debut, “Count on You” will serve as a precursor to Nate Perry & Ragged Company’s new EP that will come out in July. Fans can expect one more single next month before the entire project arrives.
Following Boston Calling, Nate Perry & Ragged Company will play several more shows over the summer including the New England Americana Festival in Medfield on June 28 and the Veterans Rock Music Festival in Barnstable July 19.
The band will also have more performances lined up in the fall.
