Wayland musician Dave Parker recently placed third in the semifinal round of Rolling Stone Magazine’s America’s Next Top Hitmaker.
“My expectations were low. I was expecting it to go the way it does when I submit songs to record labels — sometimes you hear and sometimes you don’t,” Parker said. He was “pleasantly surprised” when he heard that he was chosen to be a contestant in one of the 200 groups of 65 musicians each to move forward.
According to Parker, over 75,000 people initially entered the competition. Once the 200 groups were selected, the public cast free daily votes on Facebook. Donations to Global Citizen were encouraged to support the fight against poverty.
Each group was a “melting pot” of musicians, playing diverse genres,” Parker said. Group members competed until they were in the top 20, 15, 10, and 5, with top contestants moving into the quarterfinals and semifinals. During the competition, Parker said participants received feedback from a Nashville A&R representative, a producer, and the keyboard performer in the Steve Miller Band. Although he has been in the music business for a long time, Parker said he still picked up new tips for promoting himself and ways to improve his performance.
Parker started taking piano lessons when he was five with his father, Tony Parker, an accomplished professional musician who performed at night but gave piano and organ lessons during the day. Parker switched to guitar when he was ten when his sixth-grade music teacher’s fondness for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” inspired him and turned him into a Beatles fan. He listened to the album over and over, accompanying the music.
When his father heard him singing while playing the guitar, he encouraged his son to continue using a tempting incentive: every time he made the honor roll, he bought him a Beatles album. Although he’s currently a solo performer, Parker played in several bands when he was younger, and the Beatles are still one of his favorite bands.
Parker plays the drums, piano, organ and percussion, but his passion is the guitar accompanied by singing. He plays rock and roll and blues and is also a songwriter. Two of his songs, which are available on Apple Music, Spotify and Boomplay, are “Don’t Get Me Wrong: This Is My Song” and “High-Tech Trauma.”
With the momentum and exposure from the competition, Parker is currently working on a six-song EP album expected to debut by early fall. He plays all the instruments except drums, and he also engineered and produced the album.
Knowing music theory helps Parker because it taught him to study patterns, which is essential to songwriting and brings back the “rock ‘n roll vibe,” he said. It inspired him to do better and to know what to play and offers “extra tools in the toolbox,” he added.
To supplement his income, Parker teaches singing, guitar, piano and beginner drums. He also does audio archiving and restoration and guitar setups, produces and engineers albums for independent local artists, and runs songwriting workshops. And he’s performing every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12 different locations in MetroWest and central Massachusetts. He’ll appear at the Villa Restaurant in Wayland on September 18 at 6 p.m.
Parker grew up in Wayland on Old Connecticut Path, where his mother still lives. He attended Happy Hollow Elementary, graduated from Wayland High in 1987, left town, and then moved back to Wayland 17 years ago when he married. He lives with his wife and two teenage children in the Cochituate area.
If Parker’s kids expressed an interest in being professional musicians, he would support them while also drumming into them that it takes a lot of discipline, and strive for excellence continuously, he said.
