A bit about Bill . . .
Young, impressionable, and a Gibson EB-2
Growing up in Calumet City, Illinois as a "child of the British Invasion,” Bill’s first musical influences were The Beatles, and The Kinks (The Rolling Stones - Brian Jones and Keith Richards in particular - didn't really register until "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the Beggars' Banquet album). His first American musical influence arrived in 1965 with The Byrds and their hit, "Mr Tambourine Man" (he still has his copy of the original 45, which is proudly displayed on the wall of his home recording studio).
Having just been flashed a bit of anatomy . . .
With the arrival of the Crosby, Stills & Nash album in 1969, "a whole new world opened up," and it wasn't long before Bill traded in his Gibson EB-2 bass for a cheap acoustic 6-string and a Grestch Tennessean electric, and started writing songs, hoping to one day be known as “the Ray Davies of the Calumet Region” (while lifting everything he could from Stephen Stills).
A move to Denton, Texas after high school brought a second wave of influences, most notably Gram Parsons, but also Chris Hillman, Michael Murphey, Willis Alan Ramsey, and Richard Thompson.
A move to Denton, Texas after high school brought a second wave of influences, most notably Gram Parsons, but also Chris Hillman, Michael Murphey, Willis Alan Ramsey, and Richard Thompson.
“. . . Parker sounds like the lovechild of Gram Parsons and Keith Richards.”
Carla Duriyea, Midnight Rambler
Duffy Bishop, David Hiscock, & BP, 1998
In 1995, Bill left Texas for Seattle, Washington where he continued to spend the majority of his musical time in what he calls “the lonesome cowboy mode.”
On stage with Kathi McDonald, 2003.
While in Seattle, Bill met legendary vocalist Kathi McDonald (Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones) with whom he recorded a six song CD/EP, sex not guaranteed (2002).
Waiting to channel Lennon & McCartney
At the dawn of the 21st century, his song The Southern Side of A Northern Town was used by the BBC’s World Service to close out a 52-part history of popular music from 1600 to 2000.
In 2012 and again in 2014, Bill hit the road in The Netherlands. In 2015 he released a CD/EP, Nederland, in honor of his new-found friends and fans in the country he calls "my home away from home." Bill will return to The Netherlands in May 2017.
"It's a long way from the sock hops and street dances of Calumet City to the canals and wind-swept fields of Holland. That it took 45 years, the limitless kindness and support of both friends and strangers, and a couple of 13-hour flights to find an audience is neither here nor there. As my friend and musical mentor Fred Keith told me many years ago, 'for people like us it's the only game in town.' That was true then, and it's still true today. No matter where I go or what I do, I'll always be a guy from Gold Coast who plays guitar, grateful for a chance to tell my stories and sing my songs, and hoping for better days, by and bye."
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“He's a terrific songwriter, he's got a beautiful mind, and he puts up with me so he has the patience of a saint! But underneath all that, he's mad as a hatter.”
Kathi McDonald, friend, collaborator, and frequent co-conspirator.
Singer, storyteller, hopeless romantic, shameless purveyor of faded memories and broken dreams, Bill Parker sings not of what is or was, but of what might, could, or should have been.
Kathi McDonald, friend, collaborator, and frequent co-conspirator.
Singer, storyteller, hopeless romantic, shameless purveyor of faded memories and broken dreams, Bill Parker sings not of what is or was, but of what might, could, or should have been.
