There are many ways to measure success in the music industry. Some scales are harder to tip than others. Traditional metrics—chart success, award recognition, etc.—can often fuel disappointment if you’re not one of the very few who fit into what the culture is looking for at precisely the right time. If you’re lucky as an artist, you can find a far more sustainable driving force. Soul singer-songwriter Joyann Parker has found that rare form of success. With her latest record, Life Lines (out March 27), Parker is embracing the things that the industry rejects and reveling in her own, unique story.
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Roots Singer-Songwriter Joyann Parker on Letting Go With ‘Life Lines’
The roots artist started songwriting relatively late in life, in her mid-30s. Though she had been performing much earlier, it took a push in the right direction to get her to put pen to paper. At a blues jam several years ago, Parker got some advice from a fellow musician. After dismissing herself quickly as a writer, Parker was reminded of her unique perspective as a woman. “I guess I never had anybody encourage me to do it,” she tells American Songwriter. “It was just the spark I needed.”
Since that gentle push, Parker has been delivering her singular songwriting perspective on a stunning platter of high-flying vocals, grit, and expert instrumentation. In a world where so much is polished to boring perfection, Parker calls to mind a generation of musicians who preferred authenticity over checking boxes.
“I started doing this when I was older. And so I felt like I had missed out on a lot,” Parker says. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to fit in this box.’ I wasn’t very happy for a while; I don’t feel a lot of that pressure anymore.”
Raised in Wisconsin, Parker first tiptoed into music at church. Her powerful, emotionally rich vocals certainly reflect that background. As she moved into adulthood, Parker began down a more traditional path in education before realizing her creativity couldn’t be put on the back burner.
This realization led her to try a career as an artist. Her previous albums, Out Of The Dark and Roots, both charted. The successes she’s had in her career have been mostly fan-led, once again helping Parker push back against industry conventions.
The breadth of her time as an artist has led her to Life Lines. As the title suggests, this album embraces age and lived experience. While those are broad subjects, speaking with Parker about this record reveals two key points from her perspective, both of which go hand in hand.
Music can often seem like a younger person’s game, but it’s also true that an artist’s songwriting often gets better with age. Parker was mindful of that truth while writing this record. As she put it, “It’s a reminder that getting older is a gift. Every line has a story, and I’m learning to wear mine with gratitude.”
The second key point stems from the same idea. Now in her 40s, Parker began to question what she was doing all of this for. Her lived experience told her to look outside the lines of traditional “success.” What she found was an even more powerful catalyst for her art.
“It’s when people come to my shows, and they say, ‘This song really affected me,’” Parker said of what drove her while creating Life Lines. “I had a woman tell me that one of my songs was the reason she decided not to take her own life… This is why I’m here.”
That purpose she found in connecting with people through authentic stories is the backbone of Life Lines. This is clearly a record that has blinders on. Every song feels honest and free. Nowhere is Parker bound by pop perfectionism or expectations.
One song that helped Parker earn that freedom is titled “Laundromat Girl.” This song was a big leap for Parker, who thought it wasn’t good enough to show her bandmates. “That was really freeing for me,” she says. “I was scared to death.” Their positive reaction opened Parker up to even more thematically brave songs, which are a constant on this record.
Life Lines portrays an artist ready to take a stand. Parker lays bare her lived experiences and invites others to do the same. It’s an album she hopes is “a cool breeze” for listeners, and it’s hard to argue to the contrary.
Parker has managed to curb conventions at every turn on Life Lines, happy to be where she is at the moment, satisfied with what it took to get here, and looking ahead with a powerful sense of freedom and understanding.
Photo Credit: Jeannine Marie Photography / Milestone
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