Parker Emeigh of Good Dog Nigel Explains How ‘White Album’ Changed His Songwriting

Few albums in the history of recorded music have made such a tremendous and palpable impact on culture as The Beatles’s ‘White Album.’ Since its release in 1968, it has inspired a countless number of artists around the world… one of those artists being 23-year-old Parker Emeigh.

Emeigh is the frontman and principal songwriter for the band Good Dog Nigel, who recently released a new video of them performing their song ‘Strawberries’ live. The track comes ahead of the group’s debut record — which is set to drop sometime later this year — and shows off the Beatles’s heavy influence on Emeigh’s work.

“I was thinking of the saying ‘you are what you eat,’ so I wanted to do an experiment to see what would happen if I exclusively listened to just one thing,” Emeigh told American Songwriter. “If I was listening to music in my own time it was only ‘The White Album,’ probably from September to December when we started recording. That was almost two years ago now, which is crazy.”

‘The White Album’ is such a dense and strange album for The Beatles,” he continued. “When you start to listen to something like that obsessively you hear all these nuances that you wouldn’t normally hear. Stuff like ‘why was there a shaker in there for one measure and then that’s it?’ You hear all these little things and you start to pay attention to the production decisions. It definitely wore off on some of my writing and definitely inspired me to attempt to produce stuff like that — I’m not George Martin or anything, but I think you can hear the influence.”

And the influence shows. From the guitar tone to the lilt of the riff to the vocal runs, the influence of The Beatles is evident. Even the way Emeigh dresses is reminiscent of the late ‘60s fashion — a calculated move on the part of Emeigh, who adores showmanship in music.

“At first, I was more fascinated with the idea of putting on a show,” Emeigh said. “I’ve always loved very extravagant characters in the live music world. I think that’s what I was focused on, the performance rather than being able to play tightly. That’s definitely changed, and now I almost obsessively try to get the songs tighter live. But, when I first started the project it was definitely about putting on a show. I just have a real big passion for live music. I love when a show is done well and I really enjoy live production. Sometimes when I’m writing I have that in my mind, for sure. Like ‘well, this sounds like it would be really good live’ and then I start to think of plans or other things that could add to that or play into the live version of that song.”

Which is what makes the new live video for “Strawberries” such a good example of what Emeigh’s artistry is all about. Showing off the interplay between members of the band, the video captures the essence of Good Dog Nigel’s live chemistry.

Watch the live video of Good Dog Nigel’s song “Strawberries” below: