75 Bands in 75 Days – Day 67: Jack Parker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, to 75 Bands in 75 Days, where we’re showcasing some of the best talent that the Pacific Northwest has to offer, at least one band per day, leading up to December 31st, to ring in a new year. This list is in no particular order and it is not a chart or a countdown. It’s merely a list of bands or musicians that we feel are worthy of checking out. The musician for day 67 is Jack Parker from Bremerton.
Over the span of his 20-year career, Jack Parker has taken his life-long journey through the peaks and valleys, and shaped a musical sound reminiscent of a timeless America. For years, Parker has been the ingenious six-string slinger interpreting other people’s songs from “stage-right” in bands like Tumbledown, and Rocky Point All-Stars, but more recently he has taken center-stage to write, sing, and play his own songs that have an air of rambling down the open road, but ultimately a longing for coming home.
Parker recently released his first solo EP entitled Homegrown. The album opens with the exciting southern-rocker “It’s So Good (To Be Back Home)” that mixes the attitude of his Tumbledown twang with his meticulous ear for melody. He sings about loving life on the road, but that coming home is what makes it all worthwhile. On other songs like “I Might Love You,” “Gone,” and “Put Me Down,” he pulls beautifully from his bluegrass and southern rock influences like Tony Rice or The Outlaws, to create a whole new sound all his own. His songs invoke a romantic sense of longing, for overcoming pain caused by life’s hardships and failed relationships, coupled with a desire to find true joy.
Even though Parker is a true veteran in the music world, his journey as a solo artist is still a young, but truly promising one. We can only look ahead and watch him grow and mature into perhaps one of the great artists of the 21st century.