Parker Millsap is coming to Dallas April 9 to play the Kessler Theater. His unique blend of gospel, blues and country is a whirlwind of music that shouldn’t be missed. The Daily Campus was lucky enough to sit down and talk with Millsap about his upcoming tour and new record.
Campus Weekly: Is it exciting playing in Nashville as it’s such an epicenter for country music?
Parker Millsap: Yeah it’s great. Nashville crowds show up. There’s enough people and music there, you know shows happen all over the city and they’re all so great.
CW: Do you have a favorite place to perform?
PM: Not really, I like the traveling part of touring. I like getting to play all over. The fun of it is being in a different place every night.
CW: What inspired you to pursue music as a career?
PM: I was around music a lot when I was a kid and when I was about 7. I convinced my parents to buy me a guitar and when I was about 9. I convinced them to pay for some lessons for me. I think a year or two after getting somewhere on guitar I kind of fell in love and decided I wanted to play music.
CW: Was there anything specifically that drew you to country?
PM: I didn’t grow up listening to a lot of country music. I guess what I do has fallen into country. I listen to a lot of gospel, a lot of blues and old folk music. So kind of where the roots of country are.
CW: Is it hard to follow that path in an industry largely focused on modernized music?
PM: Not really. For me it’s all been very gradual. When I was about 14, I started playing shows that I could actually get paid for, like the county fair, a back to school party, things like that. I had a PA, my parents bought me a PA so I could go to shows and run my own sound.
CW: You’re about to release your second album right?
PM: Well it’s really my third or fourth album depending on how far you go back. I made two records in high school. And me and Mike, my current bass player, made a record called “Palisades,” it came out in 2012. So this is the fourth record for me, but it’s the second record.
CW: Has your musical approach changed?
PM: Yeah absolutely, it’s always changing. That’s what’s exciting about it is you pursue something and you get somewhere near it and then work from here. I like it, just doing different things,. This record was really about the band. Me and the band got together to make arrangements of the songs. We tracked a lot of it live so it kind of has that feel.
CW: Are there any songs specifically on this record that you’re especially proud of?
PM: “One of the Blues” is probably my favorite because it’s kind of a feel-good song.
CW: You said you were gradual with your approach, were there any artists you listened to that inspired you to take that approach?
PM: Yeah, Tom Waits, he continues to change and continues to pursue what he wants to do and does a great job of it. Yeah I mean, artists that just keep pursuing their own craft instead of worrying about selling a million records.
CW: Do you ever find it tough to balance music with the other obligations in
your life?
PM: I’m lucky to have people around me who really get it, who understand what I do and why I do it. And they help my out a lot, my girlfriend helps me out a lot my parents have been great. So for me it’s all just kind of part of the same thing and I like that. It feels honest.
CW: Do you have any tips for aspiring musicians?
PM: Write more songs. I don’t really have any authority, I’m a young musician myself, but I feel like that seems to be the thing that helps.
