Graham Parker at City Winery

Born in London, England, and raised in nearby Deepcut, Graham Parker responded to the advent of the Beatles in the early 1960s by forming the Deepcut Three, soon renamed the Black Rockers. The members never actually learned to play their instruments, however, but the three 12 and 13 year olds looked cool in Beatle haircuts, black jeans and polo neck sweaters. Working odd jobs in his late teens, Parker purchased an acoustic guitar and learned to fingerpick and write songs. He left England for Paris, France, then hitchhiked from Spain to Morocco, ultimately moving to Gibraltar; there he joined a psychedelic band named Pegasus, which he changed to Terry Burbot’s Magic Mud. In 1972 Parker returned to England and lived with his parents, worked at a petrol station, and pursued a career in music. After a few demo tapes gained industry attention, he formed Graham Parker & the Rumour in 1975 and built a reputation as an incendiary live act. By the 1980s Parker began recording under his own name and briefly linked with the Shots and the Figgs, eventually reuniting with the Rumour some 30 years later from 2012 to 2015. With and without the bands, Parker gained consistent critical acclaim and sustained a substantial cult following but never achieved widespread success. In April 2018, Parker released a new single titled "Dreamin'," and announced that an accompanying album was forthcoming.

In recent months, Graham Parker has been performing acoustic solo concerts regularly at City Winery venues in New York and other cities. Parker as an acoustic solo artist turned out to be radically different from Parker as a rocking band leader. Leading the Rumour in the 1970s, Parker punched passionate vocals with a barbed edge, giving them a distant don't-come-close guard-dog barrier. Now 67 years old, Parker transitioned anger to a softer sweetness that made the same songs sound approachably personal. Between songs, Parker shared humorous, whimsical reflections that might not have suited his somewhat acerbic persona of yesteryear. The connecting fiber was the soulful delivery that Parker mastered since his earliest beginnings. The kernel of the material now was the song itself rather than the boom of the band delivery, to where a song like "I Discovered America" sounded folkie and tender for the first time. Parker proved that he is a classic artist worth a listen whether solo or with a band.

Visit Graham Parker at www.grahamparker.net.

Setlist:

1. Watch the Moon Come Down (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
2. I Discovered America
3. Heat Treatment (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
4. Love Without Greed (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
5. Long Shot (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
6. The 3 Martini Lunch
7. Syphilis & Religion
8. Dreamin'
9. Bathtub Gin
10. Hotel Chambermaid (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
11. Things I've Never Said
12. Evil (Graham Parker & the Figgs song)
13. Howlin' Wind (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
14. Lady Doctor (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
15. Love Gets You Twisted (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
16. Discovering Japan (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
17. I'll Never Play Jacksonville Again
18. Last Stop Is Nowhere
19. Stick to Me (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
20. Get Started, Start a Fire
21. Protection (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)

Encore:

1. Back to Schooldays (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
2. Saturday Nite Is Dead (Graham Parker & the Rumour song)
3. Hold Back the Night (The Trammps cover)