Angela Perley admittedly doesn't play the guitar all that well, but it is a vital part of her songwriting process.
Perley, an Ohio University graduate, uses her guitar to inspire her lyrical mind. She fronts Americana band Angela Perley and the Howlin' Moons, which will play at 10 tonight at Jackie O's Pub and Brewery, 24 W. Union St.
"I'll just play chords on my guitar first, and words just kind of come, and I form the song," Perley said. "I never force it to happen, so when I do usually write the stuff, it's like a quick outburst within five minutes or so."
For the song "Blue Eyed Lola," though, Perley relied on a different method.
"Sometimes I'll prompt myself with a certain idea," Perley said. "Like 'Blue Eyed Lola,' I was reading an anthology of folk songs ... and it had all of these folk tales and Victorian fairy tales.
"So I wanted to write a song based off all of these characters I kept seeing, all these women chickster characters who were beautiful women that had some kind of dark side to them," Perley said.
One poem that inspired the song was Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," the story of two sisters who are tempted to eat the delicious-looking fruit of goblin men and come close to suffering dire consequences after one decides to eat the succulent produce.
As with "Goblin Market," the words of "Blue Eyed Lola" have a double meaning - something Perley doesn't always do with her lyrics.
"A lot of my songs are pretty straightforward," Perley said. "I do enjoy making little references and just kind of twisting words. A lot of times, I'll write a really sad song and put it to an upbeat, kind of hoedown beat. I get a kick out of doing that."
"There definitely are some creative ways that she uses her lyrics to conjure up other ideas even though she may be writing about one thing," said Chris Connor
Howlin' Moons' guitarist. "They're definitely open to interpretation."
Perley has progressed as a songwriter since she first started writing lyrics in high school.
"When I started writing, I did mainly verse and chorus type of stuff," Perley said. "But other songwriters I know said, 'Hey, you should really put a bridge in there,' so 'Blue Eyed Lola' has a bridge in it - which is a new thing I've been adding to songs."
A bridge is the part of the song that helps lead what happened in previous verses and choruses to the conclusion. Despite the bridge's presence
"Blue Eyed Lola" doesn't reach a gratifying conclusion.
"'Blue Eyed Lola' is a little more of a story, but it doesn't tell you much," Perley said. "I kind of like that; I like to leave it open. That's one of my songwriting tricks."
