Life may seem all set and settled in the hushed hills of Upstate New York, but from his home base in Canton, NY, singer-songwriter Christian Parker has endeavored a constant and subtle journey in song. The bard on the US-Canadian border began his life in music in mourning: the day before his first guitar lesson, news broke of John Lennon’s passing. The then twelve-year-old Parker found more than just solace in song. Before graduating high school, he released the folk album Reflections of Tomorrow and established himself as a skilled and thoughtful songwriter.
Since then, he’s released seven studio albums that chart the path of his multifaceted life as an artist, husband, father, friend, and contemplative. Each project propelled his trajectory with new insights from collaborators across a wide range of musical genres. Along the way, disciplined studies of various songwriting styles sharpened his skills to write not just with innate authenticity and heart but also with catchy, approachable melodies and cross-genre musicality.
Currently, he’s producing a psychedelic-cosmic country detour via a two-volume tribute album to The Byrds, as he continues to turn a seemingly endless scroll of songs into records both at home and with Subcat Records in Syracuse, NY.
Christian Parker’s new release “Spirit of the Trees” is an adaptation of a poem written by a friend’s wife before she passed. Arranging the words of her poem and writing additional lyrics, Parker picks his way through the somber, strolling epitaph. The message may be in mourning, but it hails hope. The author envisions being embraced and immersed in a homecoming to mother nature. Through Parker’s tender voice and shimmering guitar, her peace transcends her passing.
The music video for “Spirit of the Trees” provides a gentle backdrop for the melancholic homage. Amongst the trees, we find Parker strumming, picking, and singing to both nature and those who have passed to become one with the forest. A kaleidoscopic filter gradually fades over the frames, suggesting a beautiful new perspective on life through death. As the ode whites out on its final harmonic, we take a last breath, collect ourselves, and move on in gratitude for the beauty life has to offer.
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