Daily Discovery: Christopher Parker, “Delta Blues”

ARTIST: Christopher Parker

SONG: “Delta Blues”

HOMETOWN: Cleveland, Mississippi

CURRENT LOCATION: Seattle, Washington

AMBITIONS: To find the best way to release my debut album Southern Odyssey, which I recorded with some legendary players in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, this past April. I got to work with my musical mentor, Norbert Putnam, who produced the record. After that, write songs, perform and rock-climb my way throughout the U.S. with my coydog, Chief, in tow.

TURN-OFFS: Out of tune guitars, baggy jeans with cowboy boots, “purple” prose

TURN-ONS: Joni Mitchell, mountains, rescue dogs, skiing untracked snow, and climbing beautiful stone

DREAM GIG:Telluride Bluegrass Festival, because I’ve spent a lot of time in those mountains. I know some beautiful spots to camp, fly-fish and climb around those parts, and making music for a rowdy crowd would be an amazing way to spend an evening in the Colorado, Rockies.

FAVORITE LYRIC: “The Mississippi Delta is shining like a National Guitar. I am following the river, down the highway, through the cradle of the civil war. I’m going to Graceland.” – Paul Simon

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Sweet Thing” by Van Morrison

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Ryan Adams, Paul McCartney, Ernest Hemingway, James Taylor, Tom Robbins

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: I saw Radiohead in the courtyard of a medieval castle during their Hail to the Thief tour in Ferrara, Italy. I was 18, and it was as if Thom Yorke and his band exploded, and then slowly put the pieces back together over the course of a few hours. By the end of the evening, I felt like I had been given something so intimate, like a secret prayer, that could never be recreated or captured again. It was just for that moment in time, and it was beautiful.

I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE…I was realizing that no matter how far I travel, or how lost I get in mountains or cities, the Mississippi Delta has left its mark—shaping me as an artist, a lover and a person—and there’s nothing I can do to change that. But I discovered through the process that even if I could change it, I wouldn’t.