Mel Parsons
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Mel Parsons (born 21 October 1981) is an
indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...
and
alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...
singer/songwriter from
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.


Early life and education

Parsons grew up on a sheep and beef farm in
Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind is a headland on the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, overlooking the Tasman Sea. It is located west of the town of Westport, New Zealand, Westport. There is a lighthouse located on a promin ...
, near Westport, on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
of New Zealand's
South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
. Parsons started out playing piano, and also picked up the guitar at about 14, finally getting serious in seventh form (about age 17) when applying for the
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
School of Music. After a year of music school, Parsons went overseas for a period, then returned to New Zealand to attend the
University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
, where she studied popular music and performance, along with history, anthropology and Spanish. Parsons has lived in various parts of the world. She spent a year close to the
Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...
in Chile, and two years in the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
in Canada. Early influences on Parsons were
Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...
,
Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...
,
Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...
,
The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...
,
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...
,
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
,
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
and
Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
. Later influences were
Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...
,
Ray LaMontagne Raymond Charles Jack LaMontagne (; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released eight studio albums: ''Trouble'', ''Till the Sun Turns Black'', '' Gossip in the Grain'', ''God Willin' & the Creek Don' ...
,
Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success i ...
,
Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, countr ...
,
Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...
, and
The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...
.


Career

In 2007, Parsons returned to New Zealand to start work on her first album. The album was written by Parsons, and recorded with co-producer Shaun Elley and her backing band, The Rhythm Kings. The album ''Over My Shoulder'' was released in 2009. Parsons created her own label, Cape Road Recordings, releasing her album independently while using the New Zealand music firm Border Music for distribution. All of her albums have been released on her label. In 2011, Parsons released her second studio album, ''Red Grey Blue'', featuring
Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut album ''Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top ...
and Greg Johnson on harmonies,
Bruce Lynch Bruce Lynch (born 1 June 1948, in New Zealand) is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger. Music career Arriving in the UK in the mid-1970s, Lynch became a commercially successful session musician, touring extensively with C ...
on double bass, and
Don McGlashan Donald McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for ci ...
on baritone horn, along with others. The album was recorded in Studio One, Boatshed Studios, and The Spare Room, in
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand. Parsons recorded her third studio album, ''Drylands'' at Surgery Studios. The album was engineered by Lee Prebble who, along with mixing engineer Oliver Harmer, won the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards for best engineer for the album. One of the songs Parsons wrote was a duet, and she decided to cold e-mail
Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...
to see if he would perform the other half of the song "Don't Wait", and he agreed. Another song on the album, "Get Out Alive", is the result of her writing about a dangerous car accident she was in where the car rolled four times and was totaled, but she walked out without serious injury, but found herself re-evaluating her life for a time. Parsons released her fourth album, '' Glass Heart'' on 30 November 2018. ''Glass Heart'' is the first album Parsons recorded outside of New Zealand. It was recorded in the US in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, with producer
Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma (band), Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, ...
. The logistics and finances made it impractical to bring her backing band over from New Zealand, so Froom recruited some local musicians to back Parsons on the album. The backing band for the album consists of bass player
Kaveh Rastegar Kaveh Rastegar is a Persian-American Grammy-nominated songwriter, record producer, composer, and bass guitarist. Rastegar was born in Montreal and raised in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides in the Los Angeles/Pasadena area with his fiancé ...
, guitarist
Adam Levy Adam Levy is a jazz guitarist who was a member of Norah Jones's band. Career Levy was born in Encino, California. Two of his uncles and one cousin played guitar, and his mother briefly took lessons. His grandfather, George Wyle, worked for '' ...
, and drummer Ted Poor. Parsons performs rural woolshed tours across New Zealand with Amelia Dunbar and Emma Newborn (The Bitches Box). Although she sometimes tours by herself, and sometimes with her backing band, she has also joined a large New Zealand performance collective,
Fly My Pretties __NOTOC__ Fly My Pretties is a collaboration of musicians originally from Wellington, New Zealand who are known for coming together to record live albums, in various locations in New Zealand. The different musical backgrounds of the members make ...
. She also has toured Australia with
Anika Moa Anika Rose Moa (born 21 May 1980) is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut album ''Thinking Room'', was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top ...
. Parsons was invited to perform at the
Folk Alliance International Folk Alliance International (previously the ''North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance'') is a non-profit organization that produces an annual conference that is the world's largest gathering of the folk music industry and community. Founded ...
in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Parsons has released her fifth studio album, '' Slow Burn'', on 16 September 2022. It contains the singles "Carry On", "Already Gone", and the title track "Slow Burn".


Personal life

Parsons currently lives in
Lyttelton, New Zealand Lyttelton (Māori: ''Ōhinehou'') is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As a landing ...
. She tours so frequently that she is rarely home.


Recognition

Parsons was nominated for the following awards: *Best Folk Album –
2009 New Zealand Music Awards The 2009 New Zealand Music Awards was the 44th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical artists based in or originating from New Zealand. Finalists for the three technical awards were announced on 6 August 2009, with winners ...
. *Best Folk Album –
2012 New Zealand Music Awards The 2012 New Zealand Music Awards was the 47th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. Finalists for the three technical awards were announced on 3 October 2012, th ...
. *Songwriter –
2015 APRA Silver Scroll Awards The 2015 APRA Silver Scroll Awards was held on Thursday 17 September 2015 at Vector Arena in Auckland, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The 2015 ceremony marked the 50th presentation of the Silver Scroll award. As well as honou ...
in New Zealand. She was one of five finalists, alongside others such as
Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...
. Parsons has won the following awards: *Best Folk Artist - 2020
New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...
. *Best Country Music Song –
2016 New Zealand Music Awards The 2016 New Zealand Music Awards was the 51st holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place in November 2016 at Vector Arena in Auckland and was hosted by c ...
. *Best Independent Tour – 2016 MMF Music Awards (Music Managers Awards, New Zealand).


Discography

* '' Over My Shoulder'' (2009) * '' Red Grey Blue'' (2011) * ''
Drylands Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical ...
'' (2015) * '' Glass Heart'' (2018) * '' Slow Burn'' (2022)


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Mel 1981 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand women singers New Zealand women singer-songwriters