Zach Parkman has lived and written songs all around the United States, but a journey outside of the country proved to be the one that stuck with him the most.
Parkman spent a little over a year in Kuwait and Iraq as a member of the U.S. Army, an experience that influenced the lyrics of his acoustic blues songs.
I would definitely say that the longing-for-home aspect crept into a lot of the music
he said.
A native of Houston, Parkman moved around the country before settling in Athens six months ago with his wife, Kim, who attends grad school at OU. Since arriving, he has been playing shows and attempting to generate exposure for his upcoming album, The Carpenter and The Chemist, which will be released this spring.
The only thing that I kept on doing was playing coffee house gigs and I had all these songs written from over the years so I had a bit of a repertoire
he said.
The 10 original songs on the album, which was recorded in Virginia Beach, Va., have been crafted and honed by Parkman over many years.
After everyone graduated high school and went on their merry way
I kept writing songs
he said. All of these sparse
acoustic tunes have sort of evolved into something much bigger.
Parkman's music, like much of the local music of Southeast Ohio, has roots in the country and folk genres and borrows from artists like Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams. Parkman said that his experience living in Austin, Texas, the home of the annual South By Southwest Festival, prepared him for the music scene in Athens.
On sort of a micro level they are similar
because Athens has its own scene and style of music
he said.
Parkman has secured a weekly spot performing at the Moku Café in Athens, which he credits for helping him get acclimated to his new surroundings.
It gives me a chance to feel out not only Athens but new material
he said. I can see what people respond to
and it gives me a chance to bring new songs into the set and work on them.
Parkman hopes to eventually form a band so that he can make his live show more similar to that of his album, although he said he would never stop performing acoustically.
I'm never going to give up just doing acoustic sets
