Artist:The Innocence Mission
Song:Bright As Yellow
Album:Glow
The Innocence Mission is the husband wife team of Don and Karen Peris. They are basically a folk band. They had their greatest success with the 1995 album Glow when several songs appeared on TV shows. Bright As Yellow was their biggest hit after it appeared in the 1995 film Empire Records and the video was played a lot on MTV. Don and Linda Peris met at Lancaster Catholic High School in Lancaster, PA during a 1980 production of Godspell. They started out performing covers in local clubs as Masquerade. They added bassist Steve Brown and changed their name to The Innocence Mission. That's when they started performing original songs. Karen sings and writes most of the songs. Don plays guitar. A 1986 self released EP got the attention of Joni Mitchell. At the time, she was married to producer Larry Klein and he got them a record deal with A&M Records. It just shows you never know who's listening. Klein produced their first two albums. For the 1995 album Glow, they switched to Camper Van Beethoven producer Dennis Herring. And he gave The Innocence Mission a more mainstream pop sound. Songs were placed in the TV series Party of Five and the film Dream for an Insomniac. But the big one was when Bright as Yellow appeared on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Empire Records and reached #33 on the Alternative Rock chart. And the video was played a lot on MTV. Of course, Empire Records was not a hit at the time. But the film has become a major cult film. So I think many listeners discovered The Innocence Mission while watching Empire Records on home video. The Innocence Mission should have had momentum after that. But when they found out that Universal was buying A&M, they asked to get out of their contract. Glow is available as a budget CD. After Steve Brown was replaced by Mike Bitts, The Innocence Mission returned to a more folk oriented sound. They have recorded for various indie labels, most notably the Portland, OR based label Badman Records. They currently record for their own label and Don and Karen Peris have both released solo albums. Their music is spiritual enough that I am surprised that CCM labels haven't come sniffing around. Their latest album See You Tomorrow was released in 2020. Here's the video for Bright As Yellow by The Innocence Mission.
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