We're Jeff Oxford & Tim Perrythe Oxford-Perry Project a couple of aspiring Grand Rapids, Michigan songwriters. Tim is the word guy and Jeff cranks out the music and studio production. We're both family guys, and for the most part our music has its origins in the maelstrom that is family life in the 21st century.
The Basement Bytes is actually a collection of songwriting demos. We're not really interested in being performers, per se and would be quite content to let others record our material. In the meantime, The Basement Bytes stands as our musical kick-at-the-cat.
Acoustically, basements aren't exactly the perfect place to record. But for creating, jamming and storytelling, they do just fine. We are pleased to present this home-built, computer-recorded, cellar-chilled musical chronicle for your listening pleasure.
We hope you enjoy The Basement Bytes.
We met back in 2001 at a local songwriters' group run by Grand Rapids indie singer/songwriter Lucy Webster. Tim is strong on lyrics. Jeff is a born composer. It wasn't long before we both realized that collaborating made real sense.
Tim & Jeff run a local songwriting group and play the Urban Mill coffehouse in downtown GR once a month. We both do occasional open mics and Jeff also plays with his band, Neon Graffiti.
Probably our biggest moment as a team came in January of 2004 when we were asked to appear on The C.A.R. Show, run out of WJR radio in Detroit. We had written a song called Dewey Soakum & Howe. It's about a less-than-noble car repair facility, very loosely based on Tim's own personal experience. The C.A.R. Show had us on for about 20 minutes in each of 3 hours. The program runs on over 200 stations internationally, including Armed Services Radio. Another song Tim wrote on his own, This Ol' Truck, was also played.
And the Grand Rapids Press wrote a brief article about our appearance.
We work with a mix of musical textures that range from folk and bluegrass to rock and blues. Think of what the influences of CSNY, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot might do for a couple of married guys with acoustic guitars. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's somber. It's music that hopefully not only sticks in your head...but also your heart. Lyrically, much of it can be summed up as "simple songs in the key of Dad."
