Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry plays a variety of musical instruments. He particularly likes country music and songs that tell a story. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — A good song tells a story that touches people in a personal way, said a Parkersburg South student who has a number of accomplishments in vocal and instrumental music.

Ethan Perry, 18, a senior at Parkersburg South High School, has been a member of the school’s Concert Choir, Chamber Ensemble, Madrigal Singers and Mixed A Cappella Group for four years. These are all auditioned groups, and the Chamber Ensemble and Madrigal Singers are considered the school’s elite, competitive ensembles.

He is also a part of South’s Jazz and Symphonic bands where he plays tenor saxophone (first chair for the last three years) and French horn (first chair for the last four years), respectively.

Perry said he started playing guitar as a “wee kid” and it has stuck with him over the years.

“That is what I have really enjoyed about it, because it has always let me express myself and what I want to do,” he said. “I enjoy them both (singing and playing an instrument).

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry has an interest in music, participating in numerous choirs as well as South’s Jazz Band and Symphonic Band. He has a love of country music and has dabbled in songwriting. (Photo Provided)

“There are days when I tend to enjoy one over the other more.”

In middle school, Perry considered himself something of a “music geek” and fell in love with the song “Careless Whisper” by George Michael from the 1980s. It had a saxophone part that he thought would be cool to learn how to play. For his birthday between his sixth and seventh grade, his parents got him a tenor saxophone which he still uses today.

He initially learned how to play trumpet in fifth grade. When he got to sixth grade, his teacher asked him to give the French horn a try.

“I got better and better and better at it,” he said.

Perry said he can play around 30 instruments, many of which he is entirely self taught. His repertoire includes three forms of saxophone, a little bit of trombone, electric bass, banjo and a number of percussion instruments. He is in the process of learning how to play piano.

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry has spent time working on a farm owned by relatives. The 18-year-old has an interest in music and automotive work. (Photo Provided)

“I’m that guy that if someone needs me to play something, hand it to me and I will figure it out,” he said.

Perry recently won Outstanding Soloist Saxophone High School Division 2025 at the Southern Regional Jazz Band Festival at Marshall University. He also received the Maestro Award at the World Strides Music Festival competition in Chicago for his vocal solo in the Men’s Ensemble Performance of “Nearer, My God, to Thee” arranged by James L. Stevens.

Perry always likes to return to playing acoustic guitar and country music.

“That really is my way to express myself,” he said.

A favorite he likes to play on guitar is “Something in the Orange” by Zach Bryan, which he learned to play as a freshman and has helped him through some tough times.

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry has an interest in automotive body work. He is restoring a 1995 Chevy S-10 truck he bought last year and has been accepted to Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo Provided)

“It is one of the songs I really express myself the most on,” Perry said. “I prefer country music because it is what I relate the most to.

“I am a big lyrics person. I am more interested in the story in the music rather than the technicality of the music. For me, music is all about getting into it, and the best way I can get into it is being able to relate to it.”

The same is true when he is singing with a choir where he sings in the tenor section.

He is the first and so far only freshman to be in South’s Chamber Ensemble.

Auditions are held for Concert Choir and the Madrigal Singers at Edison and Blennerhassett middle schools.

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry plays a variety of musical instruments, many he taught himself. (Photo Provided)

“People like to say it was because of my talent, I would say it was because of the lack of men they had due to COVID and all of that,” Perry said, noting his freshman year was when things started returning to normal after the pandemic. He was told by the choir director he scored high out of everyone who tried out.

Perry was also a member of the West Virginia American Choral Directors Association High School All-State Chamber Choir and the National American Choral Directors Association SATB 11-12 Honor Choir in Dallas. That group is composed of students who audition from every state across America.

Perry has been dabbling in songwriting, completing a country song he calls “King of the World” where he details aspects of his own life and the challenges he’s faced.

Perry has worked on a farm owned by relatives over the summers and in his spare time.

He plans to pursue a career in auto body work. He has already been accepted and gotten scholarships to go to Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tenn. Perry said they are known for being the best diesel technology school in the country.

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry won best soloist on saxophone recently at the Southern Regional Jazz Band Competition at Marshall University. He received the award after four years of effort. (Photo Provided)

“That is what I enjoy doing, and that is what I want to pursue,” said Perry, who is studying body work at the Wood County Technical Center and has a part-time job in the field.

“I have always had a love of cars,” Perry said. “Everyone tells me cars were my first love even back when I was a kid.”

He’d watch a lot of shows and movies featuring cars.

“I have had a couple of cars and worked on a lot of cars,” he said. “My first job was being a valet driver. They have always been in my life and I enjoy them.”

Perry drives a Toyota Tacoma regularly and describes the 1995 Chevy S-10 truck he’s been working on as his “precious baby” that he has been working on. He bought it last year for $700 and redid the transmission and put in a couple of motors that “blew up.” A third motor is working, but he still has more to do to complete on the truck.

“It has treated me well until I didn’t treat it well,” he said with a laugh. “That is my forever project. I will keep that one until the day I die.”

Being involved with music and in automotive work has taught Perry the importance of independence, especially in finding balance in his school work and personal life.

“It’s taught me a lot about how you have to work hard to be able to do what you wanna do rather than doing what you wanna do and putting work last,” he said. “I have a truck loan, and I have to work to be able to pay on that truck loan, put gas in my truck and pay the insurance and all that stuff.

“I am entirely independent when it comes to my trucks, insurance and things of that sort, and also in that process it has shown me a lot of my limits and what I can and can’t do, but it’s also taught me a lot about how I have to treat my life and how I have to work hard to be where I wanna be in life.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com

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Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry recently received a Maestro Award for his solo in the Men’s Ensemble Performance of “Nearer, My God, to Thee” arranged by James L. Stevens at the World Strides Music Festival competition in Chicago. (Photo Provided)

Parkersburg South High School senior Ethan Perry works part-time for a local garage as he prepares to go to technical school in Nashville, Tenn., for a career in automotive body work repair. (Photo Provided)

Senior Ethan Perry plays tenor saxophone with the Parkersburg South High School Jazz Band during a performance at the Blennerhassett Hotel. (Photo Provided)

Senior Ethan Perry plays tenor saxophone with the Parkersburg South High School Jazz Band during a performance at the Blennerhassett Hotel. (Photo Provided)