Artist Elvis Perkins

Singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins has led a semi-charmed life that has also been filled with tragedy: His famous-actor father, Anthony (he of Psycho fame), died from AIDS in 1992, and he lost his mother in the World Trade Center attacks. Despite such trauma, Perkins’ songs straddle sorrow and joy with equal verve on a pair of albums for the cool indie label XL: the 2007 debut, Ash Wednesday, and Elvis Perkins In Dearland, a 2009 album that sweeps the sounds of old New Orleans and assorted other haunted nowheres.

Updated 04/23/2009