Listen to “Memo”

Click here:  Memo  © 2012 Nancy Parent

Single released on Good Sponge Sampler, Vol. I, Jan. 2012, www.goodsponge.com

Listen to “Vision of Angels”

Vision of Angels © 2011 Nancy Parent

Single released in October 2011 with Grace Magazine article and portrait.

Album due out in 2012

Spring update

I’m finally sitting down to update my blog after two months of intense writing.  I’ve done some song writing, but mostly academic work. After ten years, I’m finally finishing my doctorate in anthropology, and I’ll be graduating May 5th. It’s been a long road of starts and stops, and much parenting and music in between. I’m grateful to my partner Ben Parent who has stood by me through it all.

My solo album has been put on the back burner while I finish my degree, but I hope to get back into the studio this summer and have something for you all to hear by fall. It’s a 10-12 track album, and much time and heart has been put into it. A release date will come in its due time.

The Rivergods have ‘lots of things cooking for spring and summer. Please see “Upcoming Shows” for some great gigs ahead.

Thank you all for your continued support. Happy Spring!

Love & peace-

Nancy

Nancy Parent featured in Grace Magazine, October 19, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace – A Magazine for Women

“Nancy Parent finds her voice with new album”

By Faye Trafford

Published 10/19/2011 12:00 AM
For the first installment of our special portrait series, “The Big Picture,” photographer Seth Jacobson captured the image at right of singer/songwriter Nancy Parent on one of the grassy medians which divides the salt marshes at Barn Island Wildlife Management Area in Stonington. As the Waterford resident releases her first solo album this month, the setting provided the perfect metaphor for this new season in her life as an artist.

Barn Island is a place where the wind coming off the water sighs through the grasses and the leaves shiver with applause. March rains make the walking paths a muddy gamble. Kitesurfers wing the water through the summer, their single bright fins sailing the skyline. In autumn, the variegated grasses ache with color, the ever-presence of ocean salt and the slow, sure smell of leaves being returned into earth. It is a place of transition, of new and changing life; reflective of where Parent finds herself with the release of “Vision of Angels.”

“For the first time in my life, it is just me in my artistic journey,” she said. “I’m finding my own ‘voice,’ you could say, after many years of trying to locate that. I see it as a real gift.”

Parent’s education included classical training in voice, and she performed in musicals and operas throughout her high school and college days. For the past 15 years, she has performed as co-vocalist and steel pedal player with The Rivergods, a New London-based alt-country-rock band fronted by her husband, Ben. “I learn so much being in that band,” she said, adding that she didn’t expect her own project “to evolve as quickly as it has — my songwriting has really taken off.”

Surprising indeed, considering Parent’s schedule.

She teaches anthropology and women’s studies at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, where she is pursuring her Ph.D. Her doctoral research examines science education in contemporary Native American communities. A mother of two, she also serves as the university’s coordinator of the Faculty Learning Community.

Citing Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan among her influences, Parent says she strives for music that is “sparse and lyrically and vocally honest,” and that her verses often begin as a personal reflection which develops into a song with universal import. She said she weaved themes from every area of her life into the songs on “Vision of Angels.”

One song, “Sin-Sick Soul,” was inspired by her university work. As part of her curriculum, students are encouraged to examine media and commercial constructs of beauty, the body and human sexuality.

“Other songs reference the struggles I’ve had and many women I know have experienced — depression, body image, addiction in a culture that degrades and exploits women’s sense of identity and purpose.”

“[The album] is both personal and political. It references women’s wisdom and women’s voices. And it addresses the empires of capitalism that oppress people all over the world,” she said.

But Parent’s music does not strand the listener in a sunless place. As compelled as she is to decry the things which wear away the human heart, she emphasizes that redemption is never out of reach.

“Hope is the message,” she said. “Hope for personal growth and

recovery, hope for a more just world, and hope for all of us transcending our inner battles by listening to the truth/vision/wisdom that is potentially within us all.”

To access this article go to: http://www.theday.com/article/20111019/GRACE05/111019492/-1/grace05#.Tp6w9dCcwJs.facebook
You can read more about the photographer’s lighting tips and techniques on the educational section of his blog,
http://sethjacobson.wordpress.com

CORRECTION: Nancy Parent released a single titled, “Vision of Angels” available for download now. Her full album will be released in spring 2012.

Title track to be released this fall

Hello, friends-

I’m excited to report that the title track to my solo album will be released this fall as a preview of the full-length CD due out next year!  Details about the single will be revealed soon.

It’s been an honor and privilege to work with Hugh Birdsall (Reducers and Dogbite) on this project. Thank you, Hugh, for your commitment. patience, and stamina! And many thanks to the other musicians who are offering their time and creativity as well.  More info to follow soon!

 

Upcoming Shows!

Wednesday, August 24 w/ The Rivergods, Sneekers Cafe, 7-10pm. Groton, CT. No cover.

Saturday, August 27 Solo and w/ Sue Menhart, Jitters Cafe, Southington, CT, 7:00-9:00pm. www.jittersclub.com

Friday, Sept. 9 w/ The Rivergods @ Blue Collar Happy Hour, Burke’s Tavern, 13 Hope Street, Niantic, CT, 7:00-11:00pm, NO COVER

Saturday, Sept. 17 w/ The Rivergods, Misquamicut Fall Festival,  Atlantic Ave,
Misquamicut Beach, Rhode Island. Rivergods perform at 3:15pm

Friday, Sept. 23 w/ The Rivergods and Dogbite, A Concert and Live Recording at the All Souls UU Congregation, 19 Jay Street, New London, CT. Tickets: $15 at the door, $10 Students & advance purchase Buy tickets at http://www.fridaynightfolk.org/Doors open at 7:30 PM. Refreshments available.

Album Update!

It’s been a busy summer playing out and recording my first solo album with Hugh Birdsall. Hugh and I are collaborating in many wonderful ways and the results are getting more and more interesting. The recording process has been just that – a process of discovering new elements of my songs.  It’s been really fun to experiment and see the project unfold gradually.

Some of my influences on this album as far as production goes include very early Bob Dylan, and in some places I hear a touch of Daniel Lanois. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell lately – Blue and her Greatest Hits. I’ve always loved the sparseness and honesty of these albums – and of course their lyrical and melodic brilliance is immeasurable.

There will be a variety of artists playing on this album depending on what each song calls for.  Again, it’s a process that is evolving over time and new ideas continue to emerge. I’m thrilled and grateful to the people who have taken an interest in this project and who are dedicating their time, especially my good friend Hugh!

As for a release date, it will be sometime in early 2012. In the meantime, stay tuned for a pre-release of at least one of the 10 tracks sometime this fall!

The month of ‘Iris’

I was delighted and moved to receive a call from the owner of Green Survival Gardens, a local nursery in Waterford, CT asking if he could use my lyrics to ‘Iris’ in a full-page advertisement he planned to run in Grace Magazine. He had seen the 2010 Song Spinner that Rick Koster and Peter Huoppi of The Day produced about my songwriting and the evolution of ”Iris” from poem to song to trio arrangement.

He shared that his father had also passed away from pancreatic cancer and that he experienced a personal connection to the lyrics. He graciously asked if he could run the ad the week of Father’s Day.  I was honored.  I am grateful that my lyrics have transcended my own narrative to reach another person’s heart. This to me is the greatest gift of songwriting.

Some background about the lyrics to ‘Iris’:

The song is about my Dad who died 16 years ago.  He had a love for gardening and the natural sounds and scents of the outdoors. He was a talented carpenter and musician. He could often be found just hangin’ around smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, and chatting with the locals.

A few years ago my dad’s brother mailed me some purple iris that my dad had given him several years prior to his passing.  They are now growing in abundance in my garden.

I am recording ‘Iris’ on my solo album and it is taking on a new and unexpected style from the trio arrangement performed with the Red Hot Stove Tops. Here are the words for now…

Iris by Nancy Parent ©2010

Twinkling ice blue eyes

Laughter belly deep

Mystery only you

Would keep

Sawdust, tools and rust

Spaces smoke-filled dust

Shifting light to dark

Turned to black

Gardens full of light

Butterflies in flight

Earthen hands to find

The One

The pain in your body grew

Leaning, curling back

Fragile, flexed, removed

To ash

Inward then I went

Searching for you still

To know who I am

And have become

Now your purple iris stand

Against my rock wall deep

Years of family past

Live on…

Solo album has begun!

I began recording my solo album this past weekend working with Hugh Birdsall of The Reducers and Dogbite. I went into this project with the hopes of producing a 5 or 6 song EP. Well, it’s gonna be a full album! I will have some guest players on some of the songs, and I’ll also be incorporating some pedal steel. My goal is to keep it sparse and lyrically and vocally honest.

I woke up at 2am last night thinking about a song I wrote back in 1997. I’m learning to go with those moments by getting up, writing a few things down, and returning to bed. It took a couple of hours, but it was time well spent. I plan to dust off that song idea and bring it to fruition on this album. I’m very excited about what’s developing. Hopefully a release will happen by early fall.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Pics and Video

Rivergods CD Release March 26, 2011

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