Music INSIGHT
Abby Parks
Abby Parks is a storyteller.
You’ve probably seen her around, playing
acoustic shows at restaurants and farmers
markets, singing her brand of Southern Gothic
folk songs or maybe tuned into her radio show
on WLJS, Jacksonville State University’s radio
station, where she hosts “Folk Renaissance”
every Sunday.
But the lasting impression from a meeting
with Parks, or listening to her album, “The
Home Place,” is that the singer-songwriter is
deeply connected to her roots, her people
and the stories that make them.
“I think lots of people have stories they could
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by Benjamin Nunnally
put into a song, and they don’t think about it,”
said Parks. “Everybody has a history or a story
in their background, and if you want to come
into the folk world, you can just put that in a
song.”
Parks tells stories of her youth in songs like
“Wild Dogs,” about a pack of wild dogs that
killed the family German Shepherd and St.
Bernard, and the hunting party that went out
after them.
“They were out there in the dark, hunting these
dogs, my mom was so worried they were going
to get hurt,” said Parks. The song deviates a bit
from reality — her dad didn’t end up getting
shot in the real hunting party — but it makes
for a great story, and falls into Parks’ love for
August 2014
INSIGHT