Corey Perrillioux

ARTICLES
Home > News

*
*
*
* Enlarge Text
* Email
* Print
* Comments
* Share
o You must fill in all fields
o
o
o
o
o WITH PHOTO
o NO PHOTO
o DIGG
o FACEBOOK
o Yahoo! Buzz
o YAHOO
o NEWSVINE
o DEL.ICIO.US

Music wasn’t always local soldier’s top priority
Corey Perrillioux, 39, will soon release his five-song LP, “Your Little Secret,” in honor of his father, Oliver.

By Thad Angelloz
Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:19 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 10:20 a.m.

HOUMA —– Working on a CD seems easy compared to other things Corey Perrillioux has done in his life.

The 39-year-old musician will soon release his five-song LP, “Your Little Secret,” in honor of his father, Oliver.

“This (CD) is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now,” Perrillioux said. “It’s good to know that it’s almost here.”

While playing music has always been a hobby for Perrillioux, pursuing it full time hasn’t been because of jobs and other obligations.

“You have to make a living at something, and not many people are fortunate enough to make one in music,” Perrillioux said. “Because of that, I’m keeping my 9 to 5 (job).”

The road he traveled en route to having his own CD has been full of twists and turns.

After spending his Raceland childhood with a pair of drumsticks in his hands, Perrillioux didn’t take the predictable trek to college like many of his friends and peers.

Instead he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1986.

“I was young and really didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Perrillioux said. “My mom actually had to sign for me because I was still 17 when I enlisted.”

Soon he found himself overseas toward the end of the Cold War.

“I was sent to Germany,” Perrillioux said. “It wasn’t that bad an assignment. The strangest part about it was seeing all the tanks and knowing how fragile things still were at that time.”

When he wasn’t on duty, Perrilloux played in a band made up of several military buddies.

Just as he was starting to get some regular gigs, he was called back home.

Not long after arriving at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Perrillioux got a knock on his door.

Before he knew it, Perrilloux and his 101st unit were on the front lines waiting for Operation Desert Storm to commence in 1991.

“The night things got kicked off is something I’ll never forget,” Perrilloux said. “I could feel the ground shaking from all the B52’s flying overhead. I stayed in my foxhole for hours waiting. The whole time we felt the blasts and could see the skies lighting up all around us.”

After leaving the Army at the war’s conclusion, Perrilloux returned home in 1991 a changed man.

“I was a kid when I went in,” Perrillioux said. “I made the decision not to continue in the Army based a lot on all the things I saw over there. It’s scary for someone my age to go through that.”

He found out he was the last of his original band mates to leave Iraq.

“I linked up with those guys in Texas,” Perrillioux said. “It was great to be back together again.”

After touring the country for a year and a half and opening up for artists like Martina McBride and Sammy Kershaw, Perrilloux set up roots in Nashville, Tenn.

While in Tennessee, Perrillioux worked for an electrical company and even opened a Cajun café with his ex-wife.

His love of music stayed put, but making a living was his main focus.

After moving back to Louisiana in 1995, Perrillioux headed to Atlanta in 1999.

Despite having a stable job as a purchasing agent for a Georgia-based company, Perrillioux couldn’t resist the urge to rejoin the military after witnessing the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Thinking he could help others through his own experiences in Desert Storm, Perrillioux entered the Army at a lower classification than when he left it in 1991.

“I had to go through basic training again,” Perillioux said. “I thought I could serve as a mentor for the younger guys. I had that when I was in Desert Storm, and I remembered how valuable it was.”

Once again he was sent to Germany and for the second time in 12 years, he found himself roaming the Iraqi countryside.

“It was a thousand times scarier,” Perrillioux said of 2003’s Operation Iraqi Freedom. “What was tough was traveling in convoys when you didn’t know what was around the next corner. You didn’t know who your enemies were all the time, and that made things tough.”

His worst assignment was manning a prison in Iraq.

“It was conflicting because the same friends I had made who were getting shot at and having their vehicles blown up would bring those same people back to the prison I was working at,” Perrillioux said. “You have a feeling of wanting to hurt them, but then you think about how you would want to be treated if it were you.”

Shoulder problems forced Perrillioux to exit the service on Christmas Day last year.

From the moment he returned, he made a promise to himself to record a CD for his father.

He had the unique opportunity to have a world-class musician play guitar for him.

“Shane Theriot, who I’ve known since my childhood in Raceland, volunteered to help me out,” Perrillioux said. “To have someone of his caliber be a part of this project was amazing.”

Theriot is a sought-after musician having played with the Neville Brothers, Jewel, Leann Rimes, Boz Scaggs and more.

“Initially I didn’t know it was going to be a CD,” Theriot said. “He just told me he wanted to put a few ideas down and record it at my studio. I told him that my studio wasn’t quite ready, so I called a few friends that I thought would work out for him. I hadn’t seen Corey in many years, but was glad to help him out.”

Perrillioux describes the CD as being “some of my very best material I’ve ever written.”

The rock/contemporary genre touches on both the highs and lows of his interesting life.

“I think his time in the Army and overseas probably gave him some insight and experience lyrically that the average guy doesn’t have, especially with all that’s going on in Iraq, etc.,” Theriot said.

Slated for release later this month, Perrillioux expects the CD to be available at cdbaby.com and through his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/coreyploux.

While he’s not expecting fame and fortune, Perrillioux, who calls Kiln, Miss. home and works at Stennis Space Center, hopes the CD touches a few lives and also makes its way to the silver-screen one day.

“I’m just glad my mom, (Lynn), and dad lived long enough too see me do this,” Perrillioux said. “They’ve been my biggest supporters from the start. I don’t expect to sell a million copies, but I think my music will appeal to people out there. Hopefully, a track or two might even make it on to a commercial or a movie.”

To learn more, Perrillioux said he can be e-mailed at perrilliouxmusic@yahoo.com.

Staff Writer Thad Angelloz can be reached at 857-2207 or at thad.angelloz@houmatoday.com.
- Houma Courier