WEBVTT 00:13.270 --> 00:14.570 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Welcome. 00:14.570 --> 00:16.550 align:start I'm Steve Winick from the American Folklife Center 00:16.550 --> 00:18.900 align:start at the Library of Congress, and I'll be chatting 00:18.900 --> 00:22.110 align:start with Walter Parks in an oral history interview related 00:22.110 --> 00:25.260 align:start to his Homegrown at Home concert, which he recorded 00:25.260 --> 00:29.890 align:start for us earlier this year, and you can watch that at loc.gov 00:29.890 --> 00:33.320 align:start So Walter, let's begin by just talking 00:33.320 --> 00:36.090 align:start about your background a little bit, where you're from 00:36.090 --> 00:38.730 align:start and how you got started in music. 00:38.730 --> 00:40.590 align:start >> Walter Parks: Well, I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, 00:40.590 --> 00:44.400 align:start which is the northeast part of Florida. 00:44.400 --> 00:49.940 align:start It's very swampy and marshy, and I tell you, I've been all 00:49.940 --> 00:55.350 align:start over the world, but that area of the of the world is prettier 00:55.350 --> 00:59.860 align:start than anything I've ever seen, so I grew up in those parts, and I, 00:59.860 --> 01:08.610 align:start as is required by most young men in their teens, I was compelled 01:08.610 --> 01:15.020 align:start to play sports and those sorts of things, but sports were -- 01:15.020 --> 01:19.320 align:start they didn't hook me like music did and I was coming 01:19.320 --> 01:22.990 align:start up in the era of Woodstock and Jimi Hendrix 01:22.990 --> 01:24.980 align:start and Jefferson Airplane, and Richie Havens, 01:24.980 --> 01:30.100 align:start and artists like that, and I wanted to be a part of that, 01:30.100 --> 01:35.860 align:start but had -- for some reason, I was just, in retrospect, 01:35.860 --> 01:37.160 align:start I was just quarantined. 01:37.160 --> 01:43.210 align:start I had no idea how to find a rock and roll band in Jacksonville, 01:43.210 --> 01:46.090 align:start Florida or something like that, so the closest 01:46.090 --> 01:48.090 align:start that I could get was the school orchestra, 01:48.090 --> 01:52.320 align:start and I started playing viola, so that was my first instrument, 01:52.320 --> 01:55.950 align:start and I just succumbed to the peer pressure 01:55.950 --> 02:03.750 align:start that viola was absolutely not cool, and I had to put that down 02:03.750 --> 02:07.120 align:start after a couple of years, and then picked up the guitar 02:07.120 --> 02:12.800 align:start and kind of started finding my own identity 02:12.800 --> 02:14.940 align:start through the guitar rather than sports, 02:14.940 --> 02:18.110 align:start and I'm very happy I made that decision. 02:18.110 --> 02:21.110 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah, so you're really a guitarist first 02:21.110 --> 02:24.550 align:start and foremost, I guess, in the music world. 02:24.550 --> 02:28.230 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah, and I've kind of fallen in love 02:28.230 --> 02:35.270 align:start with singing more lately at this part of my life, and if you zoom 02:35.270 --> 02:41.190 align:start out and you look at my whole time with music, I taught myself 02:41.190 --> 02:45.030 align:start to sing years after I taught myself to play the guitar 02:45.030 --> 02:48.040 align:start and I had to learn how to sing in order to play 02:48.040 --> 02:51.950 align:start at people's weddings to make a living, and I'm the kind of guy 02:51.950 --> 02:54.460 align:start that will say, "Yup, I can do it. 02:54.460 --> 02:55.760 align:start I'll be there. 02:55.760 --> 02:58.080 align:start Tell me what time," and I just figure out how to do it 02:58.080 --> 03:02.560 align:start after I make the commitment, and it's worked out good. 03:02.560 --> 03:06.900 align:start When I first started singing for weddings or in a rock 03:06.900 --> 03:10.430 align:start and roll band, I was blowing my voice out, and I had nothing 03:10.430 --> 03:12.730 align:start to give after one evening. 03:12.730 --> 03:15.890 align:start The first evening would be great, and if I had four nights 03:15.890 --> 03:19.330 align:start to play in a row of four-hour gigs, I had nothing. 03:19.330 --> 03:23.040 align:start I mean, I was hurting myself, so I found a lady 03:23.040 --> 03:31.150 align:start who was a Juilliard opera teacher, and she taught me voice 03:31.150 --> 03:36.840 align:start through Italian arias, so I learned how to save my voice 03:36.840 --> 03:40.240 align:start by studying in a classic methodology, 03:40.240 --> 03:46.220 align:start but there was a problem with that, because when you sing, 03:46.220 --> 03:47.930 align:start when everything is [sings in Italian], 03:47.930 --> 03:56.870 align:start when you sing everything like that, then when it comes time 03:56.870 --> 03:59.750 align:start to sing Born to Run or whatever, by Springsteen, 03:59.750 --> 04:02.380 align:start you don't know how to sing that. 04:02.380 --> 04:08.880 align:start So it was up to me to try to figure out how to translate 04:08.880 --> 04:13.550 align:start and bridge those two worlds, but I did save my voice, 04:13.550 --> 04:17.180 align:start and then I found out how to project 04:17.180 --> 04:21.010 align:start and to have my voice last. 04:21.010 --> 04:26.790 align:start You know, and I could sing 2 gigs, 12 nights in a row, 04:26.790 --> 04:29.200 align:start three-hour shows if I need to, and that's just 04:29.200 --> 04:33.940 align:start because I learned how to pace myself, but it's been a very, 04:33.940 --> 04:37.750 align:start very interesting and for the most part, delightful journey 04:37.750 --> 04:40.900 align:start with music with the guitar and with the voice. 04:40.900 --> 04:42.200 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Sure. 04:42.200 --> 04:45.490 align:start And so let's talk about a couple of your sort of musical projects 04:45.490 --> 04:49.420 align:start that you became known for before you started doing this work, 04:49.420 --> 04:51.250 align:start and I guess we can start with The Nudes -- 04:51.250 --> 04:52.550 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah. 04:52.550 --> 04:53.850 align:start >> Stephen Winick: -- which was an interesting duo 04:53.850 --> 04:55.150 align:start that you were in for a long time. 04:55.150 --> 04:57.360 align:start >> Walter Parks: Well, you know, Stephen, I had a -- 04:57.360 --> 04:58.980 align:start when I when I lived in Jacksonville, 04:58.980 --> 05:04.590 align:start Florida as a young adult, I always dreamt of moving 05:04.590 --> 05:08.480 align:start to New York City, and when I got to New York City, 05:08.480 --> 05:10.560 align:start I'd saved up some money but, you know, 05:10.560 --> 05:14.400 align:start I realized that having a rock and roll band 05:14.400 --> 05:18.250 align:start in New York was logistically a nightmare. 05:18.250 --> 05:21.730 align:start You have to have a place to rehearse and the rehearsal costs 05:21.730 --> 05:23.680 align:start so much money per hour. 05:23.680 --> 05:25.800 align:start I'd never -- I wasn't used to any of that stuff 05:25.800 --> 05:27.630 align:start in Jacksonville, Florida. 05:27.630 --> 05:30.090 align:start So I said oh, I can't I can't bear this. 05:30.090 --> 05:33.160 align:start And so I want to have an acoustic group that's 05:33.160 --> 05:34.540 align:start just simple. 05:34.540 --> 05:39.590 align:start I want to get back a little bit and mix my classical training 05:39.590 --> 05:44.890 align:start with the acoustic guitar and folk music that I was kind 05:44.890 --> 05:46.990 align:start of starting to get into, so I placed an ad 05:46.990 --> 05:49.170 align:start in The Village Voice looking for a cellist, 05:49.170 --> 05:53.210 align:start and a woman named Stephanie Winters answered the ad, 05:53.210 --> 05:56.110 align:start and we were off and running for 10 years. 05:56.110 --> 05:59.290 align:start We traveled all over Canada and the United States, 05:59.290 --> 06:02.790 align:start and we had a good run of it through in the folk realm, 06:02.790 --> 06:05.870 align:start you know, festivals like the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 06:05.870 --> 06:09.850 align:start and those sorts of festivals all over the country. 06:09.850 --> 06:14.770 align:start We would eventually sign up with a booking agent 06:14.770 --> 06:18.180 align:start who was also Richie Havens's booking agent, 06:18.180 --> 06:24.940 align:start and so we got the opportunity to open for Richie Havens a lot, 06:24.940 --> 06:28.440 align:start and that's kind of how I met him, and later on, 06:28.440 --> 06:33.910 align:start I would end up playing with him, but that's -- 06:33.910 --> 06:38.980 align:start it was mostly just out of the necessity to survive 06:38.980 --> 06:42.300 align:start in New York City as to why I put an ad for just a cellist 06:42.300 --> 06:48.020 align:start and we were just an acoustic duo and it was out of the need 06:48.020 --> 06:50.790 align:start to just survive and keep my music out there, 06:50.790 --> 06:52.830 align:start but do it in a practical way. 06:52.830 --> 06:54.520 align:start >> Stephen Winick: So did your background 06:54.520 --> 06:58.600 align:start as a previous viola player influence your decision 06:58.600 --> 07:00.340 align:start to look for a cellist? 07:00.340 --> 07:05.360 align:start >> Walter Parks: Well, yeah, it did, because I knew the power 07:05.360 --> 07:07.430 align:start of that extended melody, 07:07.430 --> 07:19.930 align:start and when you've got a guitar that's just going [strums 07:19.930 --> 07:22.940 align:start guitar] that kind of a vibe, 07:22.940 --> 07:25.680 align:start and if you've got [vibrato singing imitating cello], 07:25.680 --> 07:28.450 align:start I love how they kind of leafed together, 07:28.450 --> 07:34.130 align:start and so also another thing is that because I studied viola, 07:34.130 --> 07:38.770 align:start I knew how to speak with a classical musician. 07:38.770 --> 07:40.070 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 07:40.070 --> 07:41.700 align:start >> Walter Parks: When I was a kid and dealing with rock 07:41.700 --> 07:47.730 align:start and roll bands, you -- there's this ethic of, you know, in rock 07:47.730 --> 07:50.270 align:start and roll, there's this ethic of, you know, just throw it at me. 07:50.270 --> 07:51.960 align:start I'll deal with it. 07:51.960 --> 07:54.050 align:start Whatever you me to do, I'll deal with it, you know? 07:54.050 --> 07:57.330 align:start You want me to play where I can't hear myself? 07:57.330 --> 07:58.630 align:start That's fine. 07:58.630 --> 07:59.930 align:start You know, let's go for it. 07:59.930 --> 08:01.230 align:start It's too loud for me. 08:01.230 --> 08:02.530 align:start It's uncomfortable, let's go for it. 08:02.530 --> 08:04.950 align:start But in classical music, they're not -- they -- 08:04.950 --> 08:08.540 align:start classical musicians are used to a certain level of comfort, 08:08.540 --> 08:16.050 align:start and that is the prerequisite to them doing a good job and, 08:16.050 --> 08:19.050 align:start you know, it's easy to label classical musicians 08:19.050 --> 08:21.480 align:start as prima donnas, and so on, 08:21.480 --> 08:25.520 align:start but when you realize how much concentration 08:25.520 --> 08:30.790 align:start and how much relaxation you have to have in order to deliver 08:30.790 --> 08:34.250 align:start that music, you begin to understand that a lot 08:34.250 --> 08:39.920 align:start of times what we deem as divaesque behavior, 08:39.920 --> 08:44.870 align:start or prima donnaesque behavior is just a desire to focus 08:44.870 --> 08:49.000 align:start on the music and that wonderful connection that is enabled 08:49.000 --> 08:52.990 align:start by relaxing, and so I was able to bridge those two worlds 08:52.990 --> 08:57.130 align:start of rock and roll and blues and so on with the classical world 08:57.130 --> 09:00.920 align:start because I think I started playing viola, so -- 09:00.920 --> 09:02.220 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 09:02.220 --> 09:03.520 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- you know? 09:03.520 --> 09:04.820 align:start >> Stephen Winick: But it's always good 09:04.820 --> 09:06.120 align:start to have different musical experiences to fall back 09:06.120 --> 09:08.630 align:start on when you're charting a new territory, you know? 09:08.630 --> 09:12.150 align:start I gives you more resources, and that's key. 09:12.150 --> 09:13.450 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah. 09:13.450 --> 09:14.750 align:start >> Stephen Winick: So you mentioned Richie Havens, 09:14.750 --> 09:18.320 align:start of course, as an act that you shared a manager with 09:18.320 --> 09:20.570 align:start and then opened for a lot and then of course, 09:20.570 --> 09:22.790 align:start you moved over to playing with Richie, 09:22.790 --> 09:24.380 align:start so talk about that experience. 09:24.380 --> 09:29.800 align:start >> Walter Parks: Well, I - when I was a kid in 1969 09:29.800 --> 09:33.930 align:start and it was 1970, I guess when the movie 09:33.930 --> 09:37.960 align:start for Woodstock came out, I would go to the music store 09:37.960 --> 09:45.800 align:start and this is how you experienced a musical phenomenon back then. 09:45.800 --> 09:50.260 align:start You couldn't go to YouTube and say I just -- let me get -- 09:50.260 --> 09:53.260 align:start let me find out the way it went down. 09:53.260 --> 09:55.050 align:start You'd go to a music store and look 09:55.050 --> 09:57.040 align:start at the sheet music for it first. 09:57.040 --> 10:03.310 align:start Can you imagine experiencing Woodstock via the sheet music -- 10:03.310 --> 10:04.610 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 10:04.610 --> 10:05.910 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- and trying to get the vibe 10:05.910 --> 10:07.550 align:start of Woodstock, but that's all I had? 10:07.550 --> 10:08.850 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 10:08.850 --> 10:10.150 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah, but before, you know, 10:10.150 --> 10:15.850 align:start before I could really go into clubs and see this phenomenon, 10:15.850 --> 10:19.510 align:start that was not available to me in the town in which I lived, 10:19.510 --> 10:24.070 align:start so I would see these pictures of Jimi Hendrix and Richie Havens, 10:24.070 --> 10:29.000 align:start and I remember just being absorbed by Richie Havens 10:29.000 --> 10:33.100 align:start and his golden robe, and that that long beard that, 10:33.100 --> 10:36.170 align:start oddly enough, kind of is about like mine at this point. 10:36.170 --> 10:37.470 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 10:37.470 --> 10:39.630 align:start >> Walter Parks: He looked like some kind of African king, 10:39.630 --> 10:43.750 align:start and he sounded like when you finally saw the Woodstock movie, 10:43.750 --> 10:49.730 align:start he sounded like all the world's music in one man, and I was -- 10:49.730 --> 10:56.930 align:start Stephen, this guy epitomized completeness of a solo act. 10:56.930 --> 10:59.760 align:start And that's what I wanted to have. 10:59.760 --> 11:03.690 align:start I didn't want to necessarily look like him or act like him, 11:03.690 --> 11:07.630 align:start but I wanted to figure out what was the secret 11:07.630 --> 11:09.730 align:start of his completeness? 11:09.730 --> 11:13.780 align:start And it would be years later that when I finally got to know, 11:13.780 --> 11:20.210 align:start Richie, as to what that actual mystery was, but fast forward. 11:20.210 --> 11:24.050 align:start So that was my enticement with him initially was just 11:24.050 --> 11:26.270 align:start through the Woodstock sheet music -- 11:26.270 --> 11:27.570 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 11:27.570 --> 11:28.870 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- and then, you know, 11:28.870 --> 11:32.240 align:start I want to take this moment to just say, 11:32.240 --> 11:37.760 align:start when you think something in life is just beyond your capability 11:37.760 --> 11:43.460 align:start of understanding or beyond your reach, the light should go off 11:43.460 --> 11:46.410 align:start that maybe you need to rethink that, 11:46.410 --> 11:50.670 align:start because when I first saw those pictures of Richie Havens, 11:50.670 --> 11:54.780 align:start and those -- and the images of him playing at Woodstock, 11:54.780 --> 11:58.590 align:start I thought, I am here in this theater in Jacksonville, 11:58.590 --> 12:04.280 align:start Florida, and these gods, if you will, are somewhere else, 12:04.280 --> 12:08.690 align:start and I shall never -- we shall never meet, you know? 12:08.690 --> 12:12.290 align:start It's going to -- there's always going to be this chasm 12:12.290 --> 12:16.770 align:start of mystery between us and unattainability, and I'm here 12:16.770 --> 12:21.790 align:start to tell you, so many times in my life, along the path 12:21.790 --> 12:26.630 align:start of my story, I have realized that one needs to keep oneself 12:26.630 --> 12:29.660 align:start in check with when you think something is unattainable, 12:29.660 --> 12:35.140 align:start because fast forward, I can fast forward to my very last days 12:35.140 --> 12:40.630 align:start of playing with Richie Havens, and I'm going to -- 12:40.630 --> 12:43.170 align:start I started at the beginning, my enticement with him, 12:43.170 --> 12:51.260 align:start and the very last days when it was evident that Richie, 12:51.260 --> 12:59.250 align:start because of a condition that he was developing, 12:59.250 --> 13:03.610 align:start that would eventually retire him, did not have 13:03.610 --> 13:10.700 align:start that magic anymore, and it was very sad in one sense, 13:10.700 --> 13:12.890 align:start but wonderful in the in the other sense 13:12.890 --> 13:17.430 align:start because as Richie started -- 13:17.430 --> 13:20.610 align:start as it became more and more difficult for him 13:20.610 --> 13:26.310 align:start to remember his lyrics and to orient himself, 13:26.310 --> 13:33.090 align:start still two things were intact, his delivery and his connection. 13:33.090 --> 13:34.570 align:start He still had that flow. 13:34.570 --> 13:37.300 align:start He still had that, that wonderful gallop 13:37.300 --> 13:40.050 align:start to his playing style and, you know, like a [guitar strumming]. 13:40.050 --> 13:43.570 align:start You know, like that. 13:43.570 --> 13:48.100 align:start ♪ Here comes the sun. 13:48.100 --> 13:49.920 align:start ♪ That was all there, you know? 13:49.920 --> 13:55.630 align:start He could still do this, "Freedom. 13:55.630 --> 13:57.910 align:start Freedom," that kind of thing. 13:57.910 --> 14:00.700 align:start And the other thing that was still intact, 14:00.700 --> 14:05.080 align:start the lyrics might have fallen by the wayside here or there, 14:05.080 --> 14:09.610 align:start but the other thing that was intact was his love for people 14:09.610 --> 14:14.300 align:start and their love for him, and it was wonderful to see 14:14.300 --> 14:18.650 align:start that forgiveness and that support from the audience 14:18.650 --> 14:22.100 align:start in spite of them knowing that he was challenged at the very end 14:22.100 --> 14:28.280 align:start and it so in between, now I'll go back to the in between 14:28.280 --> 14:38.920 align:start of my time with him, but I will say that when the time came 14:38.920 --> 14:43.890 align:start for Richie to look for a -- he needed another guitarist. 14:43.890 --> 14:48.690 align:start He had always had a kind of a solo guitarist behind his music, 14:48.690 --> 14:52.800 align:start and I'd tell you when I when I got asked to come audition 14:52.800 --> 14:58.960 align:start for that, because I thought he was all the world's music 14:58.960 --> 15:01.490 align:start in one man and so complete, I asked myself, 15:01.490 --> 15:03.610 align:start what can I bring to this picture? 15:03.610 --> 15:08.410 align:start What could I -- well, how do I deserve to sit at this table? 15:08.410 --> 15:13.640 align:start And, you know, for a couple of months I just floundered 15:13.640 --> 15:18.180 align:start around just trying to figure out how to not get in his way 15:18.180 --> 15:22.870 align:start and how to contribute to it, and Richie at one point could sense 15:22.870 --> 15:25.560 align:start that I was kind of searching and struggling. 15:25.560 --> 15:27.210 align:start I got the gig, by the way, 15:27.210 --> 15:29.930 align:start because I think Richie was just familiar with me. 15:29.930 --> 15:31.230 align:start He felt good about me. 15:31.230 --> 15:34.620 align:start He knew I was a good musician, but he was comfortable with me 15:34.620 --> 15:37.420 align:start from having opened for him for so many years. 15:37.420 --> 15:38.720 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 15:38.720 --> 15:40.340 align:start >> Walter Parks: And that's that was why they called me. 15:40.340 --> 15:42.120 align:start They knew about me because of that, 15:42.120 --> 15:44.300 align:start my connection with The Nudes. 15:44.300 --> 15:46.300 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah, well, it's important, like someone 15:46.300 --> 15:48.950 align:start that you can work with just interpersonally is 15:48.950 --> 15:50.250 align:start so important, so. 15:50.250 --> 15:51.550 align:start >> Walter Parks: Absolutely. 15:51.550 --> 15:54.200 align:start And Richie knew that I could communicate with him. 15:54.200 --> 15:56.680 align:start He knew that I understood him, and I'll get to that 15:56.680 --> 16:05.080 align:start in a second, but it's, you know, when I was first trying 16:05.080 --> 16:09.380 align:start to figure out how to play with him. 16:09.380 --> 16:12.490 align:start He said look, it boils down to this. 16:12.490 --> 16:18.000 align:start I want our two guitars, your guitar, Walter, and my guitar 16:18.000 --> 16:22.110 align:start to sound like one guitar, and when he told me that, 16:22.110 --> 16:25.080 align:start I realized I had to go in a different direction 16:25.080 --> 16:29.670 align:start than what he was going in, but yet I needed to weave with him. 16:29.670 --> 16:30.970 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 16:30.970 --> 16:33.290 align:start >> Walter Parks: So I started to lean back on my southern roots, 16:33.290 --> 16:44.550 align:start and my banjo picking style that I had developed in from living 16:44.550 --> 16:47.310 align:start in the area where the Okefenokee Swamp is, 16:47.310 --> 16:51.540 align:start so I started leaning back on my roots at that point a) 16:51.540 --> 16:57.360 align:start to save my job, but it was also the most natural place 16:57.360 --> 16:58.660 align:start for me to go. 16:58.660 --> 17:02.000 align:start In other words, when I realized I needed 17:02.000 --> 17:09.050 align:start to head towards what I knew best, and what I knew best was 17:09.050 --> 17:11.360 align:start where I came from, and that was something 17:11.360 --> 17:12.990 align:start that Richie couldn't say. 17:12.990 --> 17:15.510 align:start Richie didn't come from the swamp like I did. 17:15.510 --> 17:16.810 align:start He came from Brooklyn. 17:16.810 --> 17:18.110 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 17:18.110 --> 17:19.410 align:start >> Walter Parks: So what I had to do is to bring this kind 17:19.410 --> 17:23.450 align:start of southern southeast Georgia/northeast Florida swampy 17:23.450 --> 17:27.730 align:start vibe to his thing, but not overcome it. 17:27.730 --> 17:30.210 align:start He didn't hire me to be a swamp guitar player. 17:30.210 --> 17:35.530 align:start He hired me to give him a sense of comfort on stage, 17:35.530 --> 17:39.100 align:start so that he wouldn't have to do the heavy lifting constantly, 17:39.100 --> 17:42.570 align:start and so that I could do a fill here or then when he got -- 17:42.570 --> 17:44.620 align:start when he needed a break from his singing. 17:44.620 --> 17:48.150 align:start That's what he hired me for, but at the end of the day, 17:48.150 --> 17:52.110 align:start in the quest of trying to blend with him and sound 17:52.110 --> 17:55.920 align:start like one guitar player, I just leaned on my banjo picking style 17:55.920 --> 18:01.350 align:start and instead of -- so Richie's going, 18:01.350 --> 18:05.010 align:start and I'm going, backup [inaudible]. 18:05.010 --> 18:11.450 align:start Is my foot tapping too much for the mic? 18:11.450 --> 18:15.500 align:start Is it breaking up the -- is it distorting it or is it okay? 18:15.500 --> 18:19.740 align:start Can you hear that okay? 18:19.740 --> 18:22.610 align:start So you can hear how that's a banjo kind of style. 18:22.610 --> 18:25.810 align:start Can you hear that? 18:25.810 --> 18:27.110 align:start [inaudible] 18:27.110 --> 18:28.410 align:start >> Stephen Winick: [inaudible] fine in the [inaudible]. 18:28.410 --> 18:29.710 align:start >> Walter Parks: Okay. 18:29.710 --> 18:31.010 align:start All right. 18:31.010 --> 18:33.210 align:start Great. So in other words, if he's going ♪ Here comes the sun. 18:33.210 --> 18:34.920 align:start ♪, in and of itself, that kind of sounds like, 18:34.920 --> 18:36.220 align:start "Wow, where's the beat? 18:36.220 --> 18:38.370 align:start You know, I can't find one in that," but when you 18:38.370 --> 18:44.710 align:start when you combine that with -- it sounds wonderful. 18:44.710 --> 18:50.910 align:start It just weaves together, so that's how I got my gig 18:50.910 --> 18:56.680 align:start and how I sort of saved my gig and it went off for 10 years 18:56.680 --> 19:01.520 align:start with Richie Havens, and it was it was a wonderful trip 19:01.520 --> 19:05.690 align:start around the world, so to speak, and it was all -- 19:05.690 --> 19:13.350 align:start I learned so much about what doing a job was 19:13.350 --> 19:16.170 align:start when you serve somebody or when you serve anything, 19:16.170 --> 19:19.500 align:start and I can remember one of my first couple of gigs. 19:19.500 --> 19:23.540 align:start We were playing at the Edmonton Folk Festival up in Alberta, 19:23.540 --> 19:28.430 align:start and it was the first time I played for like 20,000 people 19:28.430 --> 19:35.150 align:start in one hit or something like that, and I was kind of all 19:35.150 --> 19:39.410 align:start into the moment as wow, here I am on stage with Richie Havens. 19:39.410 --> 19:42.670 align:start And look at all these people and how do -- what do I look like? 19:42.670 --> 19:46.080 align:start You know, I'm thinking all of this rubbish 19:46.080 --> 19:49.700 align:start that didn't have anything to do what my job was, 19:49.700 --> 19:52.380 align:start and I just realized that at one point I was 19:52.380 --> 19:57.120 align:start so nervous my fingers would hardly work, and this is early 19:57.120 --> 19:59.180 align:start on in the gig before I came to the epiphany, 19:59.180 --> 20:01.190 align:start and it's like no, no, no. 20:01.190 --> 20:06.160 align:start My job is to look to my left and keep my eye on Richie Havens. 20:06.160 --> 20:08.440 align:start I don't need to be worrying about how I look 20:08.440 --> 20:11.880 align:start or how many people are out there or what country I'm in, 20:11.880 --> 20:15.460 align:start or how high the stage is, or any of that. 20:15.460 --> 20:20.380 align:start My job is to focus on the reason for why I'm here, 20:20.380 --> 20:21.680 align:start which is Richie Havens. 20:21.680 --> 20:28.500 align:start And the pathway, that pathway, and that sense of attachment is 20:28.500 --> 20:33.610 align:start so meaningful that it took care of everything else. 20:33.610 --> 20:36.040 align:start So in other words, how I sounded, 20:36.040 --> 20:38.760 align:start how I was coming across, how I might have looked, 20:38.760 --> 20:44.220 align:start all of that was fine once I realized how to do my job. 20:44.220 --> 20:51.900 align:start So that's just a little piece of experience that has helped me 20:51.900 --> 20:55.310 align:start to get through other situations, I quickly identify who 20:55.310 --> 20:58.580 align:start or what I'm supposed to serve, and it can be 20:58.580 --> 21:01.300 align:start if I'm producing a record for somebody, it's -- 21:01.300 --> 21:08.210 align:start if they want me to provide ambience 21:08.210 --> 21:13.110 align:start or something underneath their song, my job is not to come in 21:13.110 --> 21:17.520 align:start and say, well, you need to have the verse -- 21:17.520 --> 21:20.870 align:start this, it's got too many verses here, you know? 21:20.870 --> 21:23.070 align:start If they like -- if they are hiring me 21:23.070 --> 21:29.830 align:start for the particular atmospheres that I can bring to a record, 21:29.830 --> 21:31.780 align:start I got to stick to the darn atmospheres. 21:31.780 --> 21:34.190 align:start I don't need to get involved in anything else, 21:34.190 --> 21:39.720 align:start and once I establish myself, then we can expand. 21:39.720 --> 21:43.240 align:start But so expand I did, with Richie. 21:43.240 --> 21:47.420 align:start And, boy, the job, if you will, 21:47.420 --> 21:53.380 align:start morphed from being just a solo guitar or a lead guitar player 21:53.380 --> 21:54.820 align:start in the background of what he did, 21:54.820 --> 21:59.000 align:start to I ended up being his road manager and, you know, 21:59.000 --> 22:02.230 align:start I speak French so when we traveled to Europe that came 22:02.230 --> 22:06.510 align:start in handy and, you know, I got our -- 22:06.510 --> 22:12.450 align:start we'd travel all over the place and I could do business 22:12.450 --> 22:14.280 align:start in countries that had a -- 22:14.280 --> 22:18.310 align:start you know, Spain and Italy and France. 22:18.310 --> 22:22.480 align:start Anything like that I could kind of survive in 22:22.480 --> 22:27.110 align:start and make Richie's life easier in, and at the very end, I mean, 22:27.110 --> 22:30.590 align:start I was driving the band in certain places. 22:30.590 --> 22:32.790 align:start I mean, occasionally we had a road manager, 22:32.790 --> 22:37.850 align:start but sometimes I'd be driving across different countries 22:37.850 --> 22:41.510 align:start and handling the money and dealing with the music 22:41.510 --> 22:43.900 align:start and dealing with the PA company. 22:43.900 --> 22:50.100 align:start It was a tremendous experience and all that was possible 22:50.100 --> 22:55.800 align:start because I love presenting concerts and the whole picture. 22:55.800 --> 22:59.500 align:start Since I've been a kid, I've been fascinated with, 22:59.500 --> 23:01.570 align:start with big festivals like Woodstock. 23:01.570 --> 23:03.850 align:start I've been festival -- I've been fascinated 23:03.850 --> 23:06.550 align:start by how they're put on, how they're marketed, 23:06.550 --> 23:09.850 align:start and how they sound, how you get people out to them, 23:09.850 --> 23:12.910 align:start and so just with being with Richie Havens, 23:12.910 --> 23:15.540 align:start it was a wonderful experience. 23:15.540 --> 23:16.840 align:start And I'll tell you. 23:16.840 --> 23:20.980 align:start If I can -- can I tell one story about taking Richie? 23:20.980 --> 23:22.500 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Absolutely. 23:22.500 --> 23:24.350 align:start >> Walter Parks: Here's another little lesson. 23:24.350 --> 23:31.380 align:start It's like if -- what I'm passionate about as an aspect 23:31.380 --> 23:33.570 align:start of life, or in this case, 23:33.570 --> 23:37.500 align:start an aspect of music is not necessarily what everybody else 23:37.500 --> 23:39.690 align:start is passionate about, but that's one 23:39.690 --> 23:42.640 align:start of the wonderful things about humanity. 23:42.640 --> 23:44.930 align:start I can remember when we were on the road, I would -- 23:44.930 --> 23:46.840 align:start if we had a day off, I would take Richie 23:46.840 --> 23:49.710 align:start to see all these old venues, you know? 23:49.710 --> 23:54.100 align:start I would say, you know, I'm just going to pull something out. 23:54.100 --> 23:59.730 align:start I'd say Richie, this is where the band Free played 23:59.730 --> 24:03.030 align:start on their first tour, or this is the Dane County Coliseum 24:03.030 --> 24:04.330 align:start in Madison, Wisconsin. 24:04.330 --> 24:06.340 align:start This is where Pink Floyd opened their Dark Side 24:06.340 --> 24:07.640 align:start of the Moon tour. 24:07.640 --> 24:09.720 align:start Richie, isn't this amazing and, you know, 24:09.720 --> 24:12.150 align:start he could care less, you know,? 24:12.150 --> 24:16.770 align:start And I remember one day I took him to the Monterey Fairgrounds, 24:16.770 --> 24:23.800 align:start because in 1967, that's where Jimi Hendrix cracked open 24:23.800 --> 24:25.990 align:start and I don't know who else was there. 24:25.990 --> 24:28.710 align:start I think the Mamas and the Papas, maybe. 24:28.710 --> 24:33.680 align:start The Who, I think came on that night, and I would go to the -- 24:33.680 --> 24:35.660 align:start we'd have the day off or the afternoon off 24:35.660 --> 24:37.490 align:start and I'd say Richie, you want to go see a gig? 24:37.490 --> 24:40.020 align:start And he'd go, "Yeah," you know, because he was just sitting 24:40.020 --> 24:41.320 align:start around in the hotel room. 24:41.320 --> 24:45.000 align:start So and we -- I remember the Monterey State Fairgrounds were 24:45.000 --> 24:46.300 align:start wide open. 24:46.300 --> 24:51.040 align:start You know, they normally have, you know, cattle shows 24:51.040 --> 24:54.480 align:start and blue ribbon contests and so on at this place, 24:54.480 --> 24:58.090 align:start but there was a gate that was open 24:58.090 --> 25:00.370 align:start that took you right into the fairgrounds. 25:00.370 --> 25:01.750 align:start And if you all look at the -- 25:01.750 --> 25:04.900 align:start see, I'm getting excited just talking about this. 25:04.900 --> 25:09.020 align:start If you look at the movie, and the grandstand, 25:09.020 --> 25:11.790 align:start the roof of the grandstand has got a bunch of points, 25:11.790 --> 25:13.090 align:start one point after the other, 25:13.090 --> 25:16.720 align:start going all around the state fairgrounds, so we were driving 25:16.720 --> 25:20.430 align:start in the middle of that, and we kind of felt like a matador 25:20.430 --> 25:21.890 align:start in the middle of a bullfight ring, 25:21.890 --> 25:25.590 align:start and here we are just driving through it where in 1967, 25:25.590 --> 25:29.000 align:start thousands of people were sitting and watching Jimi Hendrix. 25:29.000 --> 25:33.050 align:start And, you know, and Richie was just like, "Wow," you know? 25:33.050 --> 25:35.450 align:start He wasn't infused with -- 25:35.450 --> 25:36.930 align:start because that was a part of his life. 25:36.930 --> 25:39.680 align:start I think next -- the following year, in '68, he would end 25:39.680 --> 25:41.910 align:start up playing there and it -- 25:41.910 --> 25:46.680 align:start you know, venues for Richie were just a kind of a tool, 25:46.680 --> 25:49.630 align:start just like old guitars, you know? 25:49.630 --> 25:53.730 align:start And, you know, they just didn't have the attachment 25:53.730 --> 25:57.210 align:start and the folklore that they did for me, 25:57.210 --> 25:59.970 align:start and the reason was he lived it, you know? 25:59.970 --> 26:01.270 align:start He lived it. 26:01.270 --> 26:04.680 align:start And for me, I read about it, and I watched it in movies, 26:04.680 --> 26:05.980 align:start but Richie just lived it. 26:05.980 --> 26:08.910 align:start And I'm looking around for a guitar that I want to show you. 26:08.910 --> 26:12.630 align:start I don't know if it's up here, but I have an old -- 26:12.630 --> 26:14.310 align:start one of Richie's old guitars, 26:14.310 --> 26:18.960 align:start and maybe I'll take a second break and go grab that. 26:18.960 --> 26:20.890 align:start No, it's not here. 26:20.890 --> 26:26.330 align:start Oh, well, but I've got one of his old guitars with me. 26:26.330 --> 26:32.500 align:start But anyway, so that's, you know, that's a story of supporting him 26:32.500 --> 26:35.800 align:start and playing with him for so many years, 26:35.800 --> 26:43.920 align:start and I learned most importantly, that the name 26:43.920 --> 26:46.960 align:start of the game is connection with people, 26:46.960 --> 26:51.810 align:start and Richie took great pains after a concert to hang out 26:51.810 --> 26:54.060 align:start and meet everybody who wanted to meet him, 26:54.060 --> 26:57.860 align:start but during the concert, he always gave you the feeling 26:57.860 --> 27:01.980 align:start that he was there for you, and you only, if you were listening. 27:01.980 --> 27:07.080 align:start It didn't matter if you were on the last row in the auditorium. 27:07.080 --> 27:10.190 align:start He had this way of he would get in real close to the mic 27:10.190 --> 27:16.110 align:start and he would say, "And that's how you can tell 27:16.110 --> 27:21.740 align:start that the moon knows more than you do," or something like that. 27:21.740 --> 27:24.800 align:start He actually never said that, but that was what he would do. 27:24.800 --> 27:28.080 align:start He would get in real close, and it was as if he was right there 27:28.080 --> 27:29.500 align:start on your ear, you know? 27:29.500 --> 27:31.330 align:start But that was not bad. 27:31.330 --> 27:33.810 align:start That's something like he might have said. 27:33.810 --> 27:35.110 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 27:35.110 --> 27:38.380 align:start >> Walter Parks: But I want to say one more thing about my time 27:38.380 --> 27:42.130 align:start with Richie, unless you have other questions about it, 27:42.130 --> 27:45.890 align:start but I think one of the reasons I stayed on with him 27:45.890 --> 27:49.420 align:start for so long was that I could speak his language 27:49.420 --> 27:51.490 align:start and I understood his language. 27:51.490 --> 27:56.230 align:start Richie did not talk in terms of music, and I remember early on, 27:56.230 --> 28:00.960 align:start I almost got fired because, you know, I would make a chord 28:00.960 --> 28:05.520 align:start like I don't know what's -- this is an E flat major seven. 28:05.520 --> 28:06.870 align:start Now, who cares? 28:06.870 --> 28:08.570 align:start Nobody cares about that. 28:08.570 --> 28:10.880 align:start Richie certainly didn't care about that, 28:10.880 --> 28:14.140 align:start but that's the first chord of The Who's See Me, Feel Met, 28:14.140 --> 28:16.490 align:start not that we played that, but if we were playing that, 28:16.490 --> 28:19.660 align:start I would say, oh, well, Richie, that's a major seven chord. 28:19.660 --> 28:24.890 align:start You just need to go to -- you need to go to the F, 28:24.890 --> 28:33.110 align:start the F suspended chord, and then and all of this 28:33.110 --> 28:35.690 align:start and I thought he wanted to know that. 28:35.690 --> 28:37.200 align:start He didn't care about that. 28:37.200 --> 28:40.650 align:start He called these kinds of chords, a mystery chord, 28:40.650 --> 28:42.130 align:start so when he called -- 28:42.130 --> 28:48.620 align:start when I figured that he had these psychedelic hippie babble names 28:48.620 --> 28:54.440 align:start for all of these college chords, as I call them, and I realized, 28:54.440 --> 28:59.960 align:start oh, I need to change my language up a little bit with him, 28:59.960 --> 29:05.650 align:start and I realized that he spoke in terms of effect. 29:05.650 --> 29:09.400 align:start He spoke in terms of the musical effect that he eventually wanted 29:09.400 --> 29:13.160 align:start that chord to have on his audience, and at the end 29:13.160 --> 29:16.920 align:start of the day, that's as legitimate as knowing 29:16.920 --> 29:19.610 align:start that this is an E flat major seven chord. 29:19.610 --> 29:20.910 align:start As a matter of fact, the fact 29:20.910 --> 29:23.720 align:start that that's an E flat major seven chord is just something 29:23.720 --> 29:27.320 align:start that I've laboriously put into my head, and I'm proud 29:27.320 --> 29:31.410 align:start that I can recall that and affix that to that, but really, 29:31.410 --> 29:32.800 align:start what does that matter? 29:32.800 --> 29:35.010 align:start You don't get up on the microphone ago ♪ 29:35.010 --> 29:42.560 align:start "E flat major seven, F sharp suspended, or F suspended. 29:42.560 --> 29:45.330 align:start G suspended, G dominant seven." 29:45.330 --> 29:46.770 align:start ♪ Nobody cares. 29:46.770 --> 29:49.940 align:start They care about how it makes them feel and Richie understood 29:49.940 --> 29:53.240 align:start that from the very get-go because he came 29:53.240 --> 29:56.940 align:start up through doo-wop on the streets of Brooklyn. 29:56.940 --> 30:01.090 align:start He came up understanding how the different notes in the chord, 30:01.090 --> 30:06.010 align:start four notes of which, because each voice sang a note 30:06.010 --> 30:10.620 align:start of every chord in the doo-wop band on the streets of Brooklyn, 30:10.620 --> 30:13.880 align:start and that's how he learned music, is the effect that it had 30:13.880 --> 30:16.410 align:start on people, and that's what I learned from Richie Havens, 30:16.410 --> 30:21.950 align:start if I learned nothing else is that there has 30:21.950 --> 30:24.540 align:start to be a connection with the listener 30:24.540 --> 30:28.740 align:start that is not intellectual, and I mean that from respect. 30:28.740 --> 30:31.130 align:start I don't mean that from disrespect. 30:31.130 --> 30:34.430 align:start I mean, that it's deeper because it's not intellectual, 30:34.430 --> 30:39.330 align:start and so anyway, that's my little story about Richie Havens. 30:39.330 --> 30:40.630 align:start >> Stephen Winick: That's great. 30:40.630 --> 30:43.800 align:start Yeah, I mean, it's interesting how some of the standard sort 30:43.800 --> 30:47.220 align:start of music theory terms for chords 30:47.220 --> 30:50.300 align:start and musical relationships actually refer 30:50.300 --> 30:53.070 align:start to the way it makes you feel, like the dominant chord 30:53.070 --> 30:54.830 align:start >> Walter Parks: Suspended. 30:54.830 --> 30:56.130 align:start >> Stephen Winick: [inaudible] viola. 30:56.130 --> 30:57.430 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah, right. 30:57.430 --> 30:58.730 align:start >> Stephen Winick: And yet, you know, that in order to make sure 30:58.730 --> 31:01.370 align:start that you can reproduce the exact same chord, 31:01.370 --> 31:04.520 align:start you have to be more precise, and that's where the -- 31:04.520 --> 31:05.820 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah. 31:05.820 --> 31:07.120 align:start >> Stephen Winick: -- 31:07.120 --> 31:08.420 align:start the theoretical precision comes in, so. 31:08.420 --> 31:09.720 align:start >> Walter Parks: Right. 31:09.720 --> 31:13.810 align:start That is a very -- that's insightful, 31:13.810 --> 31:17.870 align:start and I never quite thought 31:17.870 --> 31:21.370 align:start of the dominant seventh aspect, but that's very cool. 31:21.370 --> 31:22.670 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 31:22.670 --> 31:23.970 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah. 31:23.970 --> 31:27.940 align:start You've given me something to think about? 31:27.940 --> 31:29.240 align:start I love that. 31:29.240 --> 31:30.540 align:start I love that. 31:30.540 --> 31:31.840 align:start >> Stephen Winick: All right. 31:31.840 --> 31:34.900 align:start Well, so I mean, it's just great to hear about your time 31:34.900 --> 31:38.110 align:start with Richie, because of, you know, the sort of figure 31:38.110 --> 31:42.870 align:start that he was, but we want to talk also about the great, you know, 31:42.870 --> 31:46.250 align:start film and Homegrown concert that you put together for us. 31:46.250 --> 31:47.550 align:start >> Walter Parks: Thank you. 31:47.550 --> 31:49.330 align:start >> Stephen Winick: And start by talking a little bit 31:49.330 --> 31:51.940 align:start about the collection that you used 31:51.940 --> 31:55.140 align:start from the American Folklife Center's archive. 31:55.140 --> 31:56.650 align:start >> Walter Parks: This is a -- 31:56.650 --> 32:02.280 align:start there's a certain irony to me searching for what you all have 32:02.280 --> 32:09.800 align:start in the archives in that, I just had this idea that when I came 32:09.800 --> 32:16.010 align:start to the conclusion that my own roots were going to have 32:16.010 --> 32:19.060 align:start to play an integral part in me surviving in music, 32:19.060 --> 32:22.730 align:start before I even listened to the American Folklife collection, 32:22.730 --> 32:26.060 align:start when I came to the conclusion that I needed to lean 32:26.060 --> 32:31.030 align:start into my roots, because that was my best hope of being unique 32:31.030 --> 32:37.460 align:start and finding my own little irreplaceability, so to speak, 32:37.460 --> 32:43.050 align:start when I came to that conclusion, I had this thought 32:43.050 --> 32:46.350 align:start that maybe there was some music made out there. 32:46.350 --> 32:48.480 align:start I mean, nobody told me that there was music. 32:48.480 --> 32:53.510 align:start I'd gone camping in the Okefenokee and loved it and 32:53.510 --> 32:59.610 align:start but my whole time in Boy Scouts, Stephen, Boy Scouts, 32:59.610 --> 33:02.660 align:start it was the one of the biggest deals of the year to go 33:02.660 --> 33:04.450 align:start out camping in the Okefenokee, 33:04.450 --> 33:09.750 align:start and we would do it maybe twice a year, and we would talk 33:09.750 --> 33:12.420 align:start to the rangers and everything and, you know, 33:12.420 --> 33:15.110 align:start go to the visitor center and then we'd go off on our own. 33:15.110 --> 33:18.060 align:start You don't really go off on your own in the Okefenokee anymore. 33:18.060 --> 33:22.020 align:start You have to have a guide, but back then the times 33:22.020 --> 33:24.960 align:start when you had a guide nothing was said about music. 33:24.960 --> 33:28.770 align:start It was all about alligators and alligator the alligator, 33:28.770 --> 33:32.240 align:start you know, the business and the logging business 33:32.240 --> 33:33.840 align:start and nobody talked about the music. 33:33.840 --> 33:36.460 align:start I found that out for myself. 33:36.460 --> 33:42.630 align:start And I have to say that the -- what's really -- 33:42.630 --> 33:49.790 align:start I want to drive home the point that there is a small trove 33:49.790 --> 33:53.820 align:start of music that is in the American Folklife collection 33:53.820 --> 33:55.440 align:start that pertains to the Library -- 33:55.440 --> 33:58.290 align:start pertains to the Okefenokee Swamp. 33:58.290 --> 33:59.700 align:start It's not vast. 33:59.700 --> 34:05.090 align:start I mean it's maybe 28 or 30 little song bits but -- 34:05.090 --> 34:08.250 align:start well, I'm going to say this. 34:08.250 --> 34:11.200 align:start When I first started listening to the collection, 34:11.200 --> 34:13.640 align:start I'm going like what am I going to do with 30 songs? 34:13.640 --> 34:18.380 align:start This is kind of going to be a -- this is -- 34:18.380 --> 34:22.600 align:start you know, I've come a long way to follow the gold at the end 34:22.600 --> 34:26.120 align:start of this rainbow and there's not that much gold in this pot, 34:26.120 --> 34:30.170 align:start and I thought at first I was bummed out. 34:30.170 --> 34:34.560 align:start And I tell you, lesson number two here is that it 34:34.560 --> 34:45.870 align:start when you think that -- don't let yourself be misled by quantity 34:45.870 --> 34:49.030 align:start when you first start doing research. 34:49.030 --> 34:53.860 align:start Just dig into what you can find and it's going to lead 34:53.860 --> 34:58.280 align:start to other things, and that's what happened with my research 34:58.280 --> 35:05.710 align:start on the music of the Okefenokee, and I kind of companioned 35:05.710 --> 35:07.490 align:start that research with some books 35:07.490 --> 35:09.820 align:start that were written, very few books. 35:09.820 --> 35:16.320 align:start One is by a man named Professor Delma Presley, who teaches 35:16.320 --> 35:19.250 align:start or used to teach at Georgia Southern University 35:19.250 --> 35:21.500 align:start in Statesboro, Georgia. 35:21.500 --> 35:25.550 align:start And I want to mention right now that if you get a -- 35:25.550 --> 35:30.730 align:start if you all get a chance to see the piece that I did 35:30.730 --> 35:34.960 align:start for the American Folklife collection, I mistakenly said 35:34.960 --> 35:38.890 align:start that he used to teach at Georgia State University. 35:38.890 --> 35:40.190 align:start That's in Atlanta. 35:40.190 --> 35:42.080 align:start To Georgia people, this makes a big difference, 35:42.080 --> 35:44.400 align:start and to all my friends in Georgia, please forgive me. 35:44.400 --> 35:51.980 align:start I was -- this was an important piece of archiving to do 35:51.980 --> 35:54.550 align:start for the Library of Congress, and I took it very seriously 35:54.550 --> 35:56.480 align:start and I was a little bit nervous at that moment. 35:56.480 --> 35:57.780 align:start I just made that little mistake 35:57.780 --> 36:00.030 align:start and I feel bad about it, but anyway. 36:00.030 --> 36:01.440 align:start >> Stephen Winick: We forgive you. 36:01.440 --> 36:02.740 align:start >> Walter Parks: Okay. 36:02.740 --> 36:08.180 align:start Well, thank you, but so one thing led to another. 36:08.180 --> 36:10.820 align:start I read a little bit about this guy 36:10.820 --> 36:19.490 align:start in the book named Hamp Mizell whose family did some 36:19.490 --> 36:21.590 align:start of the singing and the shape note singing 36:21.590 --> 36:24.680 align:start in the American Folklife collection, 36:24.680 --> 36:26.800 align:start but yet Hamp was never recorded 36:26.800 --> 36:30.650 align:start in the American Folklife collection, 36:30.650 --> 36:35.710 align:start so but he was referred to in one of these books. 36:35.710 --> 36:41.230 align:start So I had to find the closest version 36:41.230 --> 36:43.800 align:start to it in another recording. 36:43.800 --> 36:46.610 align:start My point is, is that I started 36:46.610 --> 36:48.670 align:start to put all the pieces together just 36:48.670 --> 36:50.570 align:start because I had a little information 36:50.570 --> 36:53.780 align:start that I originally got from the Library of Congress, 36:53.780 --> 36:56.310 align:start and one thing led to the other, and in trying 36:56.310 --> 36:59.120 align:start to do a thorough job of it, sometimes you go 36:59.120 --> 37:00.990 align:start down rabbit holes, you know? 37:00.990 --> 37:05.310 align:start And I remember, there was a song that was referred 37:05.310 --> 37:11.710 align:start to called Catfish, and even in you all's collection, 37:11.710 --> 37:19.650 align:start there is a picture of Hamp Mizell, I think playing fiddle, 37:19.650 --> 37:24.460 align:start I believe, but I know that it's Hamp Mizell because I've seen 37:24.460 --> 37:29.870 align:start that -- the shape of that human being identified in a book, 37:29.870 --> 37:32.380 align:start but in the movie, it doesn't say that it's Hamp Mizell, 37:32.380 --> 37:36.300 align:start but so but there's no sound to it. 37:36.300 --> 37:37.600 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 37:37.600 --> 37:43.520 align:start >> Walter Parks: So it's just a movie of all these people kind 37:43.520 --> 37:47.600 align:start of doing what they call a frolic on Sunday, and they're all 37:47.600 --> 37:51.280 align:start in their Sunday best, and they're just playing music. 37:51.280 --> 37:54.190 align:start So two things came to mind there. 37:54.190 --> 38:00.370 align:start I realized what musicians were involved and how this likely was 38:00.370 --> 38:05.240 align:start to have sounded, so I looked for other types of groups that had 38:05.240 --> 38:08.430 align:start that same configuration, fiddle, banjo, 38:08.430 --> 38:12.050 align:start and maybe acoustic guitar, what were some of the other groups 38:12.050 --> 38:14.800 align:start that might have been recorded in the South around that same time 38:14.800 --> 38:18.830 align:start and I found something in Charleston, South Carolina 38:18.830 --> 38:23.460 align:start that gave me the song, the sound of the song 38:23.460 --> 38:25.270 align:start and then I put the lyrics. 38:25.270 --> 38:29.270 align:start Then I got the lyrics from a book about the Okefenokee 38:29.270 --> 38:32.930 align:start and then once I put the song and the melody together 38:32.930 --> 38:34.930 align:start with the lyrics from the book about the Okefenokee, 38:34.930 --> 38:39.260 align:start then I recorded it for my piece with you guys, so it was just 38:39.260 --> 38:41.090 align:start because -- so I used those three points. 38:41.090 --> 38:43.260 align:start I used the visual from your film. 38:43.260 --> 38:46.490 align:start I use the lyrics from the book that Mr. Presley wrote, 38:46.490 --> 38:50.570 align:start and some other music that I had found from some guy, 38:50.570 --> 38:53.570 align:start a group called the Poplin Family Singers out of Charleston, 38:53.570 --> 38:57.150 align:start South Carolina, so that came from the Smithsonian Folkways, 38:57.150 --> 38:59.830 align:start but sometimes with research, you just got 38:59.830 --> 39:01.310 align:start to hit it from all points. 39:01.310 --> 39:12.450 align:start So I just -- so I took this music and one song 39:12.450 --> 39:17.510 align:start after another, I would try to ask myself exactly what I asked 39:17.510 --> 39:21.290 align:start when I got when I got hired to play with Richie Havens. 39:21.290 --> 39:23.060 align:start What can I bring to this table? 39:23.060 --> 39:29.880 align:start This music has already been recorded in 1944 and 1945, 39:29.880 --> 39:32.340 align:start and it's been archived, thankfully, by you guys, 39:32.340 --> 39:34.090 align:start the Library of Congress. 39:34.090 --> 39:39.000 align:start Now who am I to come along in 2020 and do anything 39:39.000 --> 39:42.960 align:start with that that's going to be meaningful? 39:42.960 --> 39:45.070 align:start And so what I decided is I wanted to try 39:45.070 --> 39:47.290 align:start to put a little contemporary twist with it. 39:47.290 --> 39:52.710 align:start I might play it with an electric guitar, or I might just want 39:52.710 --> 39:56.200 align:start to give it a little contemporary beat, a little lift. 39:56.200 --> 40:01.920 align:start Or in the case of spiritual music like what they used 40:01.920 --> 40:04.300 align:start to sing when they were at a frolic 40:04.300 --> 40:06.140 align:start and they were all sitting facing each other 40:06.140 --> 40:10.720 align:start for a shape note singing, I took it to a church. 40:10.720 --> 40:12.020 align:start There was a church that I -- 40:12.020 --> 40:16.670 align:start was nice enough to let me use their stairwell, and I sang one 40:16.670 --> 40:20.440 align:start of the hollers note for note in the stairwell of a church 40:20.440 --> 40:23.450 align:start in St. Louis, and it was a wonderful sound. 40:23.450 --> 40:27.730 align:start You can hear it on the piece that I that I did for you guys. 40:27.730 --> 40:29.880 align:start That's the first piece that I start with. 40:29.880 --> 40:34.460 align:start Now, my point is, I took this and I wrote 40:34.460 --> 40:37.180 align:start out what I found in your collection. 40:37.180 --> 40:42.390 align:start I wrote out the music that was sung by man named Tom Chesser. 40:42.390 --> 40:49.560 align:start I wrote that out note for note, and I re-sang it, and I did it 40:49.560 --> 40:51.570 align:start with a little bit of my own style. 40:51.570 --> 40:57.600 align:start I did it in a scenario that was different than in the swamp, 40:57.600 --> 41:00.140 align:start and so it has a little bit of a -- 41:00.140 --> 41:01.770 align:start it has a totally different effect, 41:01.770 --> 41:04.740 align:start and the here's my overarching point. 41:04.740 --> 41:07.620 align:start Because of my studies, my early studies of opera, 41:07.620 --> 41:11.270 align:start and because of what I knew of classical music, from the study 41:11.270 --> 41:17.120 align:start of viola, and because of the power that -- 41:17.120 --> 41:22.130 align:start the spiritual power that I knew this music to be inspired by, 41:22.130 --> 41:24.930 align:start what created this music, I decided I'm going to try 41:24.930 --> 41:28.020 align:start to sing this in a church rather than out in the wilderness. 41:28.020 --> 41:32.730 align:start Now there are films that I submitted to you guys 41:32.730 --> 41:35.130 align:start of me singing these hollers in the woods, 41:35.130 --> 41:38.890 align:start because I wanted people to hear that echo, but I also just 41:38.890 --> 41:41.130 align:start for the sake of doing something different with it, 41:41.130 --> 41:42.430 align:start I sang it in the church. 41:42.430 --> 41:46.070 align:start Now I want to be clear, my intent was not to be -- 41:46.070 --> 41:49.610 align:start I have no spiritual or religious agenda with this. 41:49.610 --> 41:55.360 align:start I just wanted to put it in a situation that in a sort 41:55.360 --> 41:58.360 align:start of a spiritual situation that inspired the song 41:58.360 --> 42:00.630 align:start in the first place, and now that was -- 42:00.630 --> 42:04.340 align:start I'm referring there to the song Idumea, which I sang 42:04.340 --> 42:06.800 align:start with an acoustic guitar in a little chapel, 42:06.800 --> 42:14.410 align:start also in St. Louis, but I think those hollers which were sung 42:14.410 --> 42:18.680 align:start by people -- well, let me back up. 42:18.680 --> 42:23.750 align:start There was -- the main type of music that you have 42:23.750 --> 42:29.970 align:start in your collection that really magnetized me, were hollers. 42:29.970 --> 42:33.690 align:start There was also Appalachian-style music banjos, and I've kind 42:33.690 --> 42:36.520 align:start of covered that, and there was also shape note singing, 42:36.520 --> 42:38.660 align:start which is spiritual, and I've covered that, 42:38.660 --> 42:43.060 align:start but the hollers were a practical way of communicating. 42:43.060 --> 42:46.910 align:start If a man had been off in the woods hunting for three days, 42:46.910 --> 42:51.890 align:start and you've got a 600 square mile swamp, it's easy to go 42:51.890 --> 42:55.840 align:start out for three days, and if you come back on your house, 42:55.840 --> 42:59.190 align:start without some kind of notice, you're likely to get shot 42:59.190 --> 43:01.490 align:start at because you're coming out of the woods. 43:01.490 --> 43:03.610 align:start Nobody knows when you're coming back. 43:03.610 --> 43:08.020 align:start If you let them know a mile out, if you're a mile away 43:08.020 --> 43:10.960 align:start from your house, and you give a whoo-hoo-oo! 43:10.960 --> 43:12.630 align:start I'm not in good voice right now. 43:12.630 --> 43:13.930 align:start Whoo-hoo-ooo! 43:13.930 --> 43:21.000 align:start You give your characteristic holler, and they know okay, 43:21.000 --> 43:23.000 align:start all right, Bill's been out. 43:23.000 --> 43:24.300 align:start He's okay. 43:24.300 --> 43:27.270 align:start That's Bill, he's -- and he'll be here in about an hour 43:27.270 --> 43:30.160 align:start because the sound would travel through the pines 43:30.160 --> 43:38.210 align:start for about a mile, and because of my affinity, my magnetism 43:38.210 --> 43:42.810 align:start to my passion for those classical and operatic sounds, 43:42.810 --> 43:48.400 align:start I just -- these things kind of, they had that power, 43:48.400 --> 43:50.760 align:start that operatic power to me. 43:50.760 --> 43:58.610 align:start And, you know, when folks do -- hollering is today, reproduced 43:58.610 --> 44:01.340 align:start and sung, and people win blue ribbon awards for it 44:01.340 --> 44:05.790 align:start and it's all kind of presented like with fiddle music 44:05.790 --> 44:09.710 align:start and banjos and folk music in western North Carolina 44:09.710 --> 44:12.360 align:start and so on, and that's all well and good, 44:12.360 --> 44:14.830 align:start but this stuff sounded operatic to me. 44:14.830 --> 44:16.130 align:start It sounded. 44:16.130 --> 44:17.430 align:start It sounded glorious. 44:17.430 --> 44:19.020 align:start It sounded a little spiritual. 44:19.020 --> 44:21.610 align:start Now, I want to be real clear. 44:21.610 --> 44:25.350 align:start The guys who were singing this music, they didn't think 44:25.350 --> 44:27.750 align:start of it as music at all. 44:27.750 --> 44:31.830 align:start This was practical communication to them, and it was just 44:31.830 --> 44:33.850 align:start like us using cell phones now. 44:33.850 --> 44:36.470 align:start Hey, I'll be home 10 minutes, you know? 44:36.470 --> 44:39.050 align:start Anything -- can I pick up some eggs or something? 44:39.050 --> 44:41.820 align:start That's the way they were holl -- that's what hollering was. 44:41.820 --> 44:43.910 align:start You know? Whoo-hoo-ooo! 44:43.910 --> 44:48.350 align:start That mean, okay, yeah, I've got a dead deer on my back. 44:48.350 --> 44:50.400 align:start I'll be there in a couple of minutes. 44:50.400 --> 44:51.700 align:start Get the fire on. 44:51.700 --> 44:53.310 align:start Let's boil the hide or do whatever we got 44:53.310 --> 44:55.490 align:start to do with it, you know? 44:55.490 --> 44:59.880 align:start And so this was not considered music. 44:59.880 --> 45:04.840 align:start This was a tool to them, and so along comes me in 2020 45:04.840 --> 45:09.840 align:start and I turned it into music, and I was fortunate enough 45:09.840 --> 45:15.100 align:start to connect with a man named Wade Chesser, 45:15.100 --> 45:17.610 align:start who in your collection I don't know if I told you this 45:17.610 --> 45:21.510 align:start but maybe I did, but in your collection -- oh, boy. 45:21.510 --> 45:22.810 align:start I don't know. 45:22.810 --> 45:24.110 align:start I don't know. 45:24.110 --> 45:25.810 align:start Let me -- I don't know. 45:25.810 --> 45:27.110 align:start I want to show you. 45:27.110 --> 45:29.460 align:start I don't know if I have it. 45:29.460 --> 45:30.760 align:start I want to show you. 45:30.760 --> 45:34.070 align:start Well, I've got an old letter that Wade Chesser wrote me. 45:34.070 --> 45:37.480 align:start I wrote Wade Chesser, and he wrote me back. 45:37.480 --> 45:41.780 align:start Wade Chesser on your tape, on the tape that you have 45:41.780 --> 45:46.060 align:start in the Library of Congress, he is introduced 45:46.060 --> 45:51.440 align:start as now we'll hear one of the old fashioned songs. 45:51.440 --> 45:56.000 align:start This is the Coming Home Holler by 17 year old Wade Chesser, 45:56.000 --> 45:59.860 align:start and he's performing the Coming Home Holler interspersed 45:59.860 --> 46:01.530 align:start with a few of the old-fashioned songs. 46:01.530 --> 46:04.330 align:start I think that's almost the wording exactly. 46:04.330 --> 46:08.810 align:start And so I was told by Delma Presley, the professor 46:08.810 --> 46:12.480 align:start at Georgia Southern, that this Wade Chesser guy is still alive, 46:12.480 --> 46:16.570 align:start and you got to chase him down, so I did. 46:16.570 --> 46:17.870 align:start I wrote him. 46:17.870 --> 46:19.180 align:start All of -- most of his adult life, 46:19.180 --> 46:24.810 align:start he had been a bank executive in a town in the middle 46:24.810 --> 46:26.290 align:start of Georgia, and I wrote him. 46:26.290 --> 46:27.700 align:start He had since retired. 46:27.700 --> 46:31.940 align:start He wrote me back, and he -- when he wrote me back, 46:31.940 --> 46:33.900 align:start he was at the tail end of his life. 46:33.900 --> 46:35.900 align:start He wrote me back in very scribbled hand. 46:35.900 --> 46:37.320 align:start I'm pretty sure I was probably one 46:37.320 --> 46:38.810 align:start of the last letters he ever wrote. 46:38.810 --> 46:40.290 align:start He passed away. 46:40.290 --> 46:41.590 align:start But he wrote me back. 46:41.590 --> 46:44.670 align:start He said, well, I -- this is so odd 46:44.670 --> 46:48.730 align:start that you're singing this music in auditoriums, 46:48.730 --> 46:51.850 align:start and we just thought of this as bringing the cows home 46:51.850 --> 46:54.830 align:start or letting our family know we were coming home from a hunt 46:54.830 --> 46:56.980 align:start and he says I wish you luck with your project. 46:56.980 --> 46:59.600 align:start I can't help you with it because I'm a old, 46:59.600 --> 47:03.770 align:start feeble man at this point, but I wish you luck with the project. 47:03.770 --> 47:06.910 align:start It was just -- it wasn't that he was being discouraging to me. 47:06.910 --> 47:09.610 align:start It was just that it was perplexing to him. 47:09.610 --> 47:17.180 align:start So because of your collection, I connected with this man and, 47:17.180 --> 47:19.180 align:start you know, honestly, I can't say 47:19.180 --> 47:20.680 align:start that I got his blessing to do it. 47:20.680 --> 47:22.610 align:start I don't even think he was thinking that way 47:22.610 --> 47:24.590 align:start or I wasn't asking for the blessing. 47:24.590 --> 47:28.980 align:start I was just letting them know I'm doing this, and I wanted 47:28.980 --> 47:31.530 align:start to know more about it, and I did get 47:31.530 --> 47:37.550 align:start to meet his brother who's still alive, and these guys, you know, 47:37.550 --> 47:41.690 align:start I tried to do whatever I could to get his brother who's younger 47:41.690 --> 47:46.430 align:start to sing a holler and he's also preserved in your archives. 47:46.430 --> 47:48.820 align:start That's just a part of their -- 47:48.820 --> 47:50.590 align:start that's a bygone part of their lives. 47:50.590 --> 47:54.860 align:start They're not anymore going to do a holler now than anybody. 47:54.860 --> 47:57.800 align:start You know, they'll talk about their days 47:57.800 --> 48:01.150 align:start when they were working in corporate America or something 48:01.150 --> 48:02.450 align:start like that, when they moved 48:02.450 --> 48:04.520 align:start to the big city, Jacksonville nearby. 48:04.520 --> 48:05.820 align:start I don't want to hear about that. 48:05.820 --> 48:07.250 align:start I want to hear about the hollers. 48:07.250 --> 48:09.620 align:start I want to hear about how they lived out in the swamp. 48:09.620 --> 48:11.070 align:start They got out of the swamp. 48:11.070 --> 48:13.880 align:start They're glad to be out of the swamp, but here, guys like you 48:13.880 --> 48:20.760 align:start and me who are impassioned by the tale and the lore 48:20.760 --> 48:23.430 align:start of these guys living in the middle of nowhere, 48:23.430 --> 48:28.780 align:start and making the best of it, and they don't really want to go 48:28.780 --> 48:33.610 align:start down memory lane, but I tell you, I've tried and 48:33.610 --> 48:37.400 align:start but they have given their blessing to me and they've come 48:37.400 --> 48:39.820 align:start to my concerts when I play in that area of the country. 48:39.820 --> 48:41.340 align:start It's really great. 48:41.340 --> 48:47.240 align:start It's fascinating to have a person who was recorded in 1945 48:47.240 --> 48:51.660 align:start and is forever preserved in your archives in the Library 48:51.660 --> 48:54.020 align:start of Congress, American Folklife Collection, 48:54.020 --> 48:57.580 align:start and that individual has come to my shows in probably 48:57.580 --> 49:01.780 align:start in the year 2018, and seen me perform, 49:01.780 --> 49:06.270 align:start and whereas I'm much better about -- 49:06.270 --> 49:10.470 align:start my performances are much better now in the year 2020, 49:10.470 --> 49:13.740 align:start especially after I've prepared for what I submitted to you all, 49:13.740 --> 49:18.230 align:start but I passed the test and even in 2018, 49:18.230 --> 49:20.210 align:start I entertained him enough, 49:20.210 --> 49:24.690 align:start so the first thing Mr. Bill Chesser said to me is -- 49:24.690 --> 49:26.070 align:start you know, I was nervous when I met him -- 49:26.070 --> 49:28.130 align:start he said -- he leaned in. 49:28.130 --> 49:34.160 align:start He got in real close to me and he said, can you yodel? 49:34.160 --> 49:39.030 align:start And because yodeling is a -- that's kind of a -- 49:39.030 --> 49:40.330 align:start that's what hollering is [yodels]. 49:40.330 --> 49:43.100 align:start There we go. 49:43.100 --> 49:46.650 align:start That's actually a yodel. 49:46.650 --> 49:52.800 align:start [yodels]. And this brings to mind one other quick thing 49:52.800 --> 49:57.180 align:start that I want to -- a little side road that I want to go 49:57.180 --> 50:00.360 align:start down that's kind of crucial if you wouldn't let me -- 50:00.360 --> 50:02.100 align:start if you wouldn't mind me doing this. 50:02.100 --> 50:11.560 align:start When I -- part of the reason I so stubbornly resisted anything 50:11.560 --> 50:18.260 align:start to do with the swamp as what defined me in my early days 50:18.260 --> 50:22.590 align:start of performing, in my early quest for uniqueness and style 50:22.590 --> 50:27.090 align:start when I moved to New York City, is because I was one 50:27.090 --> 50:29.870 align:start of two types of Southerners. 50:29.870 --> 50:36.220 align:start I was brought up, for better or for worse -- 50:36.220 --> 50:39.980 align:start there were kind of two mentalities 50:39.980 --> 50:42.060 align:start of white Southerners, and I can't speak 50:42.060 --> 50:45.320 align:start for any other cultures or races because I'm not that, 50:45.320 --> 50:48.000 align:start but with white Southerners, you were either kind of -- 50:48.000 --> 50:50.250 align:start either came from the working class 50:50.250 --> 50:52.270 align:start or you came from something else. 50:52.270 --> 50:54.090 align:start You know, you might have had farmland, 50:54.090 --> 50:56.440 align:start and if your people had farmland, 50:56.440 --> 50:59.070 align:start then they might have been connected for better for worse 50:59.070 --> 51:03.580 align:start to the plantation economy and that reality. 51:03.580 --> 51:05.300 align:start Again, for better or for worse, 51:05.300 --> 51:08.260 align:start the grand disclaimer, I was in the latter. 51:08.260 --> 51:14.200 align:start My people had farms, and they probably had plantations, 51:14.200 --> 51:17.420 align:start and I'm -- well, I know they had plantations, and they probably, 51:17.420 --> 51:20.780 align:start if you trace it back far enough, they probably had slaves. 51:20.780 --> 51:28.730 align:start Not happy about that, but my point is, I had this feeling 51:28.730 --> 51:33.090 align:start of disdain for anything that related to fiddles, banjos, 51:33.090 --> 51:36.910 align:start yodeling all of that, and I talked to my friends 51:36.910 --> 51:39.360 align:start in North Carolina, not too long ago 51:39.360 --> 51:41.710 align:start when I first started this research, 51:41.710 --> 51:46.160 align:start and I have a good friend named Landon Walker, who now lives 51:46.160 --> 51:48.920 align:start in Greensboro, North Carolina, and he's got a brother 51:48.920 --> 51:52.400 align:start who runs a Walker family traditional music camp 51:52.400 --> 51:56.950 align:start up around Boone, North Carolina, or Blowing Rock 51:56.950 --> 51:58.250 align:start or something like that. 51:58.250 --> 51:59.550 align:start Anyway, it's string music. 51:59.550 --> 52:01.980 align:start It's traditional North Carolinian music, 52:01.980 --> 52:05.100 align:start and I was talking to him about his family history with that 52:05.100 --> 52:07.310 align:start and he -- the light went off when I talked. 52:07.310 --> 52:09.340 align:start He said no, we didn't like that music. 52:09.340 --> 52:10.980 align:start My father had nothing to do with this. 52:10.980 --> 52:12.400 align:start We listened to classical music. 52:12.400 --> 52:17.680 align:start And I realized, I never listened to it either. 52:17.680 --> 52:19.530 align:start I never, once. 52:19.530 --> 52:21.170 align:start I grew up in the South. 52:21.170 --> 52:25.810 align:start I never once listened to string music, folk music, 52:25.810 --> 52:29.210 align:start banjo music, yodels, none of it. 52:29.210 --> 52:34.270 align:start It was considered low class, and we listened to -- 52:34.270 --> 52:39.120 align:start we didn't listen to classical music, but we listened 52:39.120 --> 52:43.190 align:start to what they call beautiful music or Henry Mancini 52:43.190 --> 52:44.490 align:start and all of that stuff. 52:44.490 --> 52:47.890 align:start That's what I grew up on, Perry Como Andy Williams, 52:47.890 --> 52:52.300 align:start and we would not be caught dead listening to folk music, 52:52.300 --> 52:58.550 align:start and so I got on the folk train much later in my life, 52:58.550 --> 53:00.370 align:start ironically, when I moved to New York City. 53:00.370 --> 53:07.260 align:start My point in all of this is to say, when I largely, I mean, 53:07.260 --> 53:09.680 align:start it's been a struggle, even through my research 53:09.680 --> 53:12.030 align:start in the Library of Congress collection, 53:12.030 --> 53:18.960 align:start to accept that this music was part of me, and I've kind 53:18.960 --> 53:24.630 align:start of felt like I was -- it's been a real growing process for me, 53:24.630 --> 53:30.930 align:start because for some reason, I could always play this music well. 53:30.930 --> 53:35.130 align:start It was always part of me, in the sense that it flowed 53:35.130 --> 53:39.100 align:start out of me easily, and when I moved to New York City, 53:39.100 --> 53:42.040 align:start and I thought of myself as all European connected 53:42.040 --> 53:44.260 align:start and everything, and my German friends 53:44.260 --> 53:47.680 align:start and my Japanese friends would keep saying to me, oh, 53:47.680 --> 53:49.800 align:start you have such a swampy vibe in your play. 53:49.800 --> 53:52.050 align:start And I'm like, oh, geez, I can't hear that one more time. 53:52.050 --> 53:55.920 align:start I want to be, you know, I want to be all, you know, 53:55.920 --> 54:00.820 align:start I just want to be as modern and cutting edge as possible. 54:00.820 --> 54:02.480 align:start Don't tell me about the swamp. 54:02.480 --> 54:03.780 align:start Finally the light went off. 54:03.780 --> 54:05.170 align:start I've got to embrace it. 54:05.170 --> 54:07.890 align:start Once again, I'm trying to bring this back 54:07.890 --> 54:14.090 align:start around to your roots is -- that's your life preserver. 54:14.090 --> 54:16.630 align:start If you're an artist and you want to find your unique voice, 54:16.630 --> 54:19.320 align:start you have to turn and embrace your roots. 54:19.320 --> 54:20.620 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 54:20.620 --> 54:21.920 align:start >> Walter Parks: If you run from them, 54:21.920 --> 54:23.410 align:start you are fighting an uphill battle 54:23.410 --> 54:25.900 align:start that you will probably never win, 54:25.900 --> 54:32.770 align:start and I have to say this Library of Congress adventure 54:32.770 --> 54:35.700 align:start for me has been life shaping. 54:35.700 --> 54:44.030 align:start I mean, it was -- for me to get this music back into my psyche, 54:44.030 --> 54:52.480 align:start into my genes, if you will, was in a certain way healing 54:52.480 --> 54:55.010 align:start and it was a certain way enlightening. 54:55.010 --> 54:57.390 align:start Now you might say but you just got through telling us 54:57.390 --> 54:58.720 align:start that this wasn't in your genes. 54:58.720 --> 55:01.460 align:start This is -- you listened to classical music 55:01.460 --> 55:09.030 align:start and Henry Mancini, and that may be what I was supposed 55:09.030 --> 55:15.710 align:start to be listening to, but for some reason, I related to this music 55:15.710 --> 55:20.020 align:start in a deeper way, and I had to accept it in order 55:20.020 --> 55:24.800 align:start to perform it correctly, and even if you look 55:24.800 --> 55:32.710 align:start at my first versions that I made in like 2016 of me in a theater 55:32.710 --> 55:36.630 align:start in Jersey City, I'm singing a holler like [sings]. 55:36.630 --> 55:44.410 align:start I'm singing it operatically, not [sings loudly]. 55:44.410 --> 55:54.640 align:start I'm not kind of really owning the yodel part of it -- 55:54.640 --> 55:55.940 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 55:55.940 --> 55:58.930 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- because God forbid, I actually yodel, 55:58.930 --> 56:03.720 align:start because then that's just -- 56:03.720 --> 56:05.980 align:start that's accepting that I work the land. 56:05.980 --> 56:11.960 align:start I'm going back to my upbringing, and so on, 56:11.960 --> 56:17.120 align:start but it's been a journey that you all had helped me with, 56:17.120 --> 56:21.960 align:start and it's I feel like I'm authorized to do this, 56:21.960 --> 56:26.050 align:start and I'm authorized because I used to spend so much time 56:26.050 --> 56:27.350 align:start out there in the swamp. 56:27.350 --> 56:28.730 align:start What I'm not authorized to do is to talk 56:28.730 --> 56:30.270 align:start about the history of the Okefenokee. 56:30.270 --> 56:33.690 align:start If you all want that, you go to a book, and you read that, 56:33.690 --> 56:37.670 align:start but what I can talk about is the music that was made out there, 56:37.670 --> 56:40.090 align:start and that's what I can also play, 56:40.090 --> 56:46.230 align:start and I think I do it pretty well now, and what's really kind 56:46.230 --> 56:49.100 align:start of supportive and encouraging 56:49.100 --> 56:53.300 align:start to me is I can remember the first time I heard your 56:53.300 --> 56:56.050 align:start collection and I first started writing it out, Stephen. 56:56.050 --> 56:58.520 align:start I've got -- I don't -- it'd take me too long in the books 56:58.520 --> 57:00.420 align:start to show you the first page. 57:00.420 --> 57:01.720 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 57:01.720 --> 57:03.020 align:start >> Walter Parks: When I first started writing this down, 57:03.020 --> 57:04.550 align:start I scribbled it out in hand before I put it 57:04.550 --> 57:09.060 align:start into a music program, and I just started shaking, 57:09.060 --> 57:12.570 align:start and kind of I just started shaking. 57:12.570 --> 57:15.690 align:start I was -- I could barely write and I was in New York City 57:15.690 --> 57:18.480 align:start at the time, and I'm like, this is crazy. 57:18.480 --> 57:22.210 align:start I'm writing this music that came from Washington, DC. 57:22.210 --> 57:24.640 align:start Well, it first came from the archives. 57:24.640 --> 57:30.160 align:start I mean, it first came from the field in the Okefenokee Swamp, 57:30.160 --> 57:35.440 align:start was archived by Francis Harper on equipment on loan 57:35.440 --> 57:37.780 align:start from you guys, sat in the Library of Congress, 57:37.780 --> 57:40.110 align:start American Folklife Collection for years, 57:40.110 --> 57:42.450 align:start then was loaned a little bit of it, 57:42.450 --> 57:44.680 align:start some of it to the Georgia Southern University, 57:44.680 --> 57:48.050 align:start which I first heard it, and now I took it to New York City, 57:48.050 --> 57:51.850 align:start and I'm writing it out and I'm shaking, I'm going like, 57:51.850 --> 57:55.650 align:start nobody's ever done this before with this piece of music. 57:55.650 --> 57:58.230 align:start I don't even know that people have really listened 57:58.230 --> 58:03.100 align:start to this little bit of music probably in 30 years, who knows? 58:03.100 --> 58:06.880 align:start And it was just the import of it, 58:06.880 --> 58:14.090 align:start in that I realized I was going to be a bridge to this 58:14.090 --> 58:16.420 align:start for some people who had never -- 58:16.420 --> 58:19.760 align:start who would never otherwise hear this, you know? 58:19.760 --> 58:24.780 align:start And believe me, I -- you know, I am patting myself on the back 58:24.780 --> 58:27.710 align:start and saying, all right, it's important. 58:27.710 --> 58:33.780 align:start I did something that's worthwhile, but you know, 58:33.780 --> 58:35.410 align:start I have had people come up to me. 58:35.410 --> 58:37.960 align:start I mean, the proof is in what people say to me after my shows. 58:37.960 --> 58:43.220 align:start It's like I've had men come up to me in tears. 58:43.220 --> 58:46.660 align:start I remember I played at the Stephen C. Foster Park 58:46.660 --> 58:50.350 align:start in northeast Florida, Live Oak, Florida. 58:50.350 --> 58:53.430 align:start There's a festival there called the Magnolia Fest, 58:53.430 --> 58:54.730 align:start I think is what it is. 58:54.730 --> 58:58.200 align:start It's a folk festival, and there was a gentleman 58:58.200 --> 58:59.500 align:start who came up in tears. 58:59.500 --> 59:02.790 align:start He goes, I haven't heard that since my grandfather used 59:02.790 --> 59:05.240 align:start to holler, and it sounded just like him. 59:05.240 --> 59:07.480 align:start I go, yeah, because it's from this area. 59:07.480 --> 59:09.360 align:start It's from this neck of the woods. 59:09.360 --> 59:10.690 align:start We're on the Suwanee River. 59:10.690 --> 59:13.760 align:start I said the Suwanee River starts up in the Okefenokee. 59:13.760 --> 59:15.680 align:start That's where the spring is for it. 59:15.680 --> 59:17.090 align:start It all comes from this area. 59:17.090 --> 59:22.150 align:start And he was in tears, and he says I want more of this. 59:22.150 --> 59:27.420 align:start And now, when people come to me after shows, I can say well, 59:27.420 --> 59:29.040 align:start there's a whole review of it. 59:29.040 --> 59:32.100 align:start There's a whole show that I did for the Library of Congress, 59:32.100 --> 59:35.300 align:start and because of the COVID -- 59:35.300 --> 59:39.920 align:start now this is being recorded in in 2020, and we're still 59:39.920 --> 59:41.960 align:start in the middle of a coronavirus epidemic. 59:41.960 --> 59:46.890 align:start I've not had any -- I've not performed any live concerts, 59:46.890 --> 59:50.680 align:start so I haven't been able to say to anybody at this point, 59:50.680 --> 59:55.710 align:start there's a whole -- the fruits of my efforts are compiled 59:55.710 --> 59:57.340 align:start in the Library of Congress collection, 59:57.340 --> 01:00:00.050 align:start the Library of Congress, American Folklife Collection. 01:00:00.050 --> 01:00:03.250 align:start You just have to find it in a lot, and so now I can say that, 01:00:03.250 --> 01:00:05.740 align:start and I can't wait to do that live on tour. 01:00:05.740 --> 01:00:07.810 align:start >> Stephen Winick: That's great, but you know, one of the things 01:00:07.810 --> 01:00:13.060 align:start that we found really interesting about the COVID-19 pandemic, 01:00:13.060 --> 01:00:17.290 align:start and how it affected our concert series was that, you know, 01:00:17.290 --> 01:00:21.040 align:start we had to retool very quickly and create our concert series 01:00:21.040 --> 01:00:24.160 align:start to be online, and that gave artists 01:00:24.160 --> 01:00:28.890 align:start like yourself more free rein to do things 01:00:28.890 --> 01:00:32.650 align:start that they couldn't do live in the Coolidge Auditorium, 01:00:32.650 --> 01:00:34.870 align:start and for some of the concerts, including yours, 01:00:34.870 --> 01:00:38.480 align:start we think that that actually ended up being a real asset 01:00:38.480 --> 01:00:40.230 align:start because one of the things that we love 01:00:40.230 --> 01:00:43.810 align:start about your video particularly, is the sense of place 01:00:43.810 --> 01:00:47.900 align:start that we get out of the fact that you actually went to the swamp 01:00:47.900 --> 01:00:51.430 align:start and to the Chesser homestead to record some of these songs, 01:00:51.430 --> 01:00:53.340 align:start so could you talk about that, 01:00:53.340 --> 01:00:54.640 align:start about your [inaudible] journey [inaudible]? 01:00:54.640 --> 01:00:58.640 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah, that was -- that took place. 01:00:58.640 --> 01:01:03.550 align:start My pilgrimage was twofold. 01:01:03.550 --> 01:01:07.830 align:start I go there just -- I stop by the Okefenokee just 01:01:07.830 --> 01:01:09.950 align:start about any time I'm in my neck of the woods, 01:01:09.950 --> 01:01:12.850 align:start but I went there specifically for this project 01:01:12.850 --> 01:01:17.680 align:start that I submitted to you all, once, 01:01:17.680 --> 01:01:22.520 align:start and then there was also one time before, that I filmed, 01:01:22.520 --> 01:01:26.570 align:start I got myself up at five in the morning and went 01:01:26.570 --> 01:01:27.870 align:start out to the Okefenokee. 01:01:27.870 --> 01:01:31.140 align:start Now when you see the piece that I've done for you all you all, 01:01:31.140 --> 01:01:34.820 align:start you will -- there's a song called Ain't Nobody's Business. 01:01:34.820 --> 01:01:36.120 align:start It starts with a holler. 01:01:36.120 --> 01:01:38.100 align:start It's all black backdrop. 01:01:38.100 --> 01:01:42.020 align:start I'm playing a Fender guitar, and you'll see a film 01:01:42.020 --> 01:01:43.540 align:start in the background of me. 01:01:43.540 --> 01:01:48.330 align:start Now that's a film that I took on a canoe in the Okefenokee Swamp 01:01:48.330 --> 01:01:50.910 align:start that didn't come from stock footage, you know? 01:01:50.910 --> 01:01:55.780 align:start That came from me holding my camera as my canoe drifted 01:01:55.780 --> 01:02:00.770 align:start through the Okefenokee, and that was about 7:30 01:02:00.770 --> 01:02:07.010 align:start in the morning one October, and the coolness of the air, 01:02:07.010 --> 01:02:09.430 align:start the frost in the air, was meeting the warmness 01:02:09.430 --> 01:02:13.710 align:start of that water and it was just exquisite. 01:02:13.710 --> 01:02:17.340 align:start I was -- I can't believe I kept the cameras as still as I did, 01:02:17.340 --> 01:02:21.460 align:start because I was just -- inside I was shaking with the majesty 01:02:21.460 --> 01:02:23.890 align:start of it, and what I did is I underlaid 01:02:23.890 --> 01:02:27.040 align:start that behind me playing. 01:02:27.040 --> 01:02:29.190 align:start So that's actual footage, and I don't think -- 01:02:29.190 --> 01:02:33.900 align:start I'm pretty sure that I didn't mention that in the Library 01:02:33.900 --> 01:02:37.410 align:start of Congress film that I made for you all, but that was my footage 01:02:37.410 --> 01:02:39.570 align:start that I overlaid under me playing. 01:02:39.570 --> 01:02:41.840 align:start So that was trip number one. 01:02:41.840 --> 01:02:45.690 align:start Trip number two, I specifically made for you guys and I went 01:02:45.690 --> 01:02:49.780 align:start to the Chesser homestead in July a month before I released the 01:02:49.780 --> 01:02:51.490 align:start film to you all. 01:02:51.490 --> 01:02:55.430 align:start And I'm sitting there. 01:02:55.430 --> 01:03:00.420 align:start I've never had Mother Nature put me under such pressure 01:03:00.420 --> 01:03:03.420 align:start to make -- to do a recording project 01:03:03.420 --> 01:03:05.880 align:start as Mother Nature was doing. 01:03:05.880 --> 01:03:13.620 align:start It was hot as hell out there and it was in the swamp in July, 01:03:13.620 --> 01:03:17.650 align:start and not only that, what you didn't realize is 01:03:17.650 --> 01:03:20.310 align:start that mosquitoes were just going crazy 01:03:20.310 --> 01:03:24.400 align:start and I was fighting mosquitoes and the heat and I'm 01:03:24.400 --> 01:03:28.730 align:start from that area and I could barely take it, 01:03:28.730 --> 01:03:33.150 align:start and but every now and then I would be sitting there 01:03:33.150 --> 01:03:35.950 align:start on the porch and at one point I had to place all to myself. 01:03:35.950 --> 01:03:39.110 align:start It's the beautiful Chesser homestead, 01:03:39.110 --> 01:03:42.100 align:start though there's a -- the sand. 01:03:42.100 --> 01:03:44.690 align:start Now I want to -- a lot of people don't understand, you know, 01:03:44.690 --> 01:03:47.140 align:start you're talking about a homestead in the middle of the swamp. 01:03:47.140 --> 01:03:50.460 align:start If you've never been out to a swamp, 01:03:50.460 --> 01:03:52.810 align:start you don't realize there are islands in a swamp. 01:03:52.810 --> 01:03:55.980 align:start It's not just all water and alligators and water moccasins. 01:03:55.980 --> 01:03:59.130 align:start There are little islands where people lived 01:03:59.130 --> 01:04:01.350 align:start and they had livestock and they -- 01:04:01.350 --> 01:04:03.290 align:start different families had different islands. 01:04:03.290 --> 01:04:05.360 align:start That's the way it worked in the Okefenokee. 01:04:05.360 --> 01:04:07.930 align:start When I went down there to the Chesser Island 01:04:07.930 --> 01:04:10.680 align:start and the Chesser homestead, they gave me permission to walk 01:04:10.680 --> 01:04:18.680 align:start up there and film on the front porch, and I took my 1929 banjo, 01:04:18.680 --> 01:04:22.440 align:start and I did that because I wanted it to be an instrument 01:04:22.440 --> 01:04:24.060 align:start that would have been played in the period 01:04:24.060 --> 01:04:26.300 align:start when people were listening -- we're living out there, 01:04:26.300 --> 01:04:31.440 align:start so I played that song Catfish that Delma Presley refers 01:04:31.440 --> 01:04:35.910 align:start to in his book The Okefenokee Album, 01:04:35.910 --> 01:04:40.170 align:start and so when I'm sitting there on the porch by myself, 01:04:40.170 --> 01:04:44.910 align:start I'm sitting there playing and I'm kind of in -- 01:04:44.910 --> 01:04:47.280 align:start you don't know this because you're watching it 01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:48.990 align:start from the perspective of the camera, 01:04:48.990 --> 01:04:51.520 align:start but I get through playing, and I can't play it because it's 01:04:51.520 --> 01:04:55.060 align:start in a different tuning right now, but I'm playing and I look up 01:04:55.060 --> 01:04:58.100 align:start and there's 10 people there watching me 01:04:58.100 --> 01:05:02.390 align:start and I get finished playing, 01:05:02.390 --> 01:05:06.000 align:start and they said can you tell me a little bit about the house? 01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:08.640 align:start And can we go into the house? 01:05:08.640 --> 01:05:10.300 align:start In fact, the house was closed. 01:05:10.300 --> 01:05:12.010 align:start They were doing some repairs on the road, 01:05:12.010 --> 01:05:14.100 align:start and nobody was really supposed to be back there, 01:05:14.100 --> 01:05:16.470 align:start but apparently, they'd gotten to -- 01:05:16.470 --> 01:05:19.150 align:start the tree had fallen across the road, and they'd open it up. 01:05:19.150 --> 01:05:20.790 align:start Now the tourists are there. 01:05:20.790 --> 01:05:25.750 align:start Now what they think I am, they think I'm a costumed guide, 01:05:25.750 --> 01:05:28.130 align:start like you see Ponce de Leon walking 01:05:28.130 --> 01:05:30.940 align:start around in St. Augustine, Florida, you know? 01:05:30.940 --> 01:05:33.500 align:start They think I'm a prop. 01:05:33.500 --> 01:05:37.630 align:start They think I'm just like in Williamsburg, Virginia 01:05:37.630 --> 01:05:39.530 align:start or something, you know? 01:05:39.530 --> 01:05:43.490 align:start But no, I'm out there doing research, and as a matter 01:05:43.490 --> 01:05:49.370 align:start of fact, a couple of my takes were ruined 01:05:49.370 --> 01:05:51.650 align:start because people would start clapping. 01:05:51.650 --> 01:05:55.070 align:start I wanted it to kind of seem like, I was really authentically 01:05:55.070 --> 01:05:57.170 align:start out there in the middle of nowhere and, you know, 01:05:57.170 --> 01:05:58.900 align:start and I wanted it to be this kind 01:05:58.900 --> 01:06:02.440 align:start of like this stealth moment, you know? 01:06:02.440 --> 01:06:06.680 align:start But a couple -- so it took me forever 01:06:06.680 --> 01:06:08.680 align:start to get that recording done. 01:06:08.680 --> 01:06:10.350 align:start And, you know, it was primitive, 01:06:10.350 --> 01:06:14.180 align:start and the microphone is all bumping around, and forgive me 01:06:14.180 --> 01:06:17.380 align:start for that, but I thought it was really important that you hear 01:06:17.380 --> 01:06:20.820 align:start that version of Catfish the way it was played, 01:06:20.820 --> 01:06:23.110 align:start and sung way back then. 01:06:23.110 --> 01:06:27.880 align:start And then I had seen that with a version 01:06:27.880 --> 01:06:29.760 align:start of me playing it on electric guitar -- 01:06:29.760 --> 01:06:31.060 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 01:06:31.060 --> 01:06:32.360 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- and what I did. 01:06:32.360 --> 01:06:33.850 align:start when I was at that Chesser homestead, 01:06:33.850 --> 01:06:39.060 align:start because I have experience in a lot of recording, 01:06:39.060 --> 01:06:42.110 align:start I did that with my foot on that porch, 01:06:42.110 --> 01:06:46.550 align:start and I could hear the medicine bottles inside 01:06:46.550 --> 01:06:48.490 align:start that cabinet just rattling. 01:06:48.490 --> 01:06:52.350 align:start I could hear the silverware in that kitchen just rattling. 01:06:52.350 --> 01:06:55.060 align:start And then of course, the wonderful resonance and that 01:06:55.060 --> 01:06:58.530 align:start that sort of bass response of the porch in and of itself, 01:06:58.530 --> 01:07:01.700 align:start and I just made a recording of that thumping. 01:07:01.700 --> 01:07:07.120 align:start And then when I came back to St. Louis, I put that -- 01:07:07.120 --> 01:07:12.850 align:start I did a time loop of me playing that thumping, so I just -- 01:07:12.850 --> 01:07:14.880 align:start I played to that loop. 01:07:14.880 --> 01:07:18.530 align:start So I took modern technology, and I married it to a recording 01:07:18.530 --> 01:07:24.790 align:start of me exactly as I would have sounded in 1929 01:07:24.790 --> 01:07:29.450 align:start when that banjo was first made, so my foot stomping was 1929, 01:07:29.450 --> 01:07:33.660 align:start but I bring it together with an electronic loop from 2020, 01:07:33.660 --> 01:07:37.490 align:start and I just thought that was an interesting little marriage 01:07:37.490 --> 01:07:38.790 align:start of the old and the new. 01:07:38.790 --> 01:07:40.640 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah, it sounds totally natural. 01:07:40.640 --> 01:07:43.150 align:start Like nobody would know that you did that. 01:07:43.150 --> 01:07:44.450 align:start >> Walter Parks: Nobody, yeah. 01:07:44.450 --> 01:07:45.750 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:07:45.750 --> 01:07:47.050 align:start >> Walter Parks: No, it just -- but it's the -- 01:07:47.050 --> 01:07:48.350 align:start but Steven, the have, -- 01:07:48.350 --> 01:07:50.280 align:start you could go to a music store these days 01:07:50.280 --> 01:07:53.540 align:start and buy these things called porch boxes. 01:07:53.540 --> 01:07:54.840 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 01:07:54.840 --> 01:07:56.720 align:start >> Walter Parks: They have a little guitar plug on them, 01:07:56.720 --> 01:08:00.560 align:start and it's a little, you know, a microphone pickup inside of it, 01:08:00.560 --> 01:08:03.840 align:start and the whole concept is that it sounds like a porch. 01:08:03.840 --> 01:08:05.320 align:start Well, I was on a porch. 01:08:05.320 --> 01:08:06.620 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 01:08:06.620 --> 01:08:09.220 align:start >> Walter Parks: I was on the porch from 1921, 01:08:09.220 --> 01:08:15.360 align:start one of the most quintessential porches that's available 01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:20.440 align:start to us right now because it was the same porch that was there 01:08:20.440 --> 01:08:22.520 align:start around the turn of the century, 01:08:22.520 --> 01:08:25.690 align:start all the way to when folks were kicked out of the Okefenokee. 01:08:25.690 --> 01:08:28.290 align:start And I want to make one more thing really clear here 01:08:28.290 --> 01:08:31.850 align:start about the Okefenokee Swamp, is that I think it is -- 01:08:31.850 --> 01:08:38.870 align:start it could accurately be described as the East Coast 01:08:38.870 --> 01:08:41.870 align:start of the United States' last frontier, 01:08:41.870 --> 01:08:47.610 align:start because there were, up until 1929. 01:08:47.610 --> 01:08:53.420 align:start I mean, in 199 -- mid-1920s, there were parts of that swamp 01:08:53.420 --> 01:08:54.950 align:start that nobody had ever seen. 01:08:54.950 --> 01:09:02.580 align:start Now 1929, you know, every place else 01:09:02.580 --> 01:09:04.990 align:start in the East Coast would had already -- 01:09:04.990 --> 01:09:06.860 align:start most of the trees had been cut down. 01:09:06.860 --> 01:09:10.030 align:start And, you know, everybody had kind of mapped it all out by 01:09:10.030 --> 01:09:14.450 align:start that point in the eastern part of the US, and there's a ranger 01:09:14.450 --> 01:09:18.660 align:start out there who's been very helpful to my research, 01:09:18.660 --> 01:09:21.270 align:start and she said to me, on my last trip, she says, Walter, 01:09:21.270 --> 01:09:22.570 align:start you know, there's some -- 01:09:22.570 --> 01:09:25.870 align:start there's a cypress stand that still nobody's been to, 01:09:25.870 --> 01:09:29.580 align:start and I said, well, how do you know? 01:09:29.580 --> 01:09:32.200 align:start If nobody's been to it, how do you know it exists? 01:09:32.200 --> 01:09:35.490 align:start And she says because of drone photography, 01:09:35.490 --> 01:09:40.210 align:start and we found some old growth 700-year-old Cypress out there, 01:09:40.210 --> 01:09:43.640 align:start that was so deep in the swamp, it wasn't worth it 01:09:43.640 --> 01:09:46.800 align:start for those guys to get to, and they never knew it was there 01:09:46.800 --> 01:09:48.470 align:start because they didn't have drone photography, 01:09:48.470 --> 01:09:51.770 align:start and they didn't use airplanes for that purpose back then. 01:09:51.770 --> 01:09:55.410 align:start So anyway, and I said well, is there a chance that I can go 01:09:55.410 --> 01:09:57.040 align:start out and see it someday? 01:09:57.040 --> 01:10:02.010 align:start And she says we know where it's there and I'll see 01:10:02.010 --> 01:10:04.570 align:start if I can get you -- I think I can get you a personal tour 01:10:04.570 --> 01:10:10.270 align:start out there next time, so I really want to schedule that because, 01:10:10.270 --> 01:10:15.580 align:start Stephen, they took 700-year-old cypresses that were big 01:10:15.580 --> 01:10:19.790 align:start around as the redwoods, and they shaved the whole swamp bear. 01:10:19.790 --> 01:10:21.090 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 01:10:21.090 --> 01:10:24.170 align:start >> Walter Parks: On the other hand, you know, 01:10:24.170 --> 01:10:27.980 align:start none of this music probably would have been -- 01:10:27.980 --> 01:10:31.340 align:start there wouldn't have been attention put 01:10:31.340 --> 01:10:34.230 align:start on the swamp had it not been for the logging business. 01:10:34.230 --> 01:10:35.530 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:10:35.530 --> 01:10:36.830 align:start >> Walter Parks: And this guy might not have come 01:10:36.830 --> 01:10:38.130 align:start down with this recording equipment, 01:10:38.130 --> 01:10:39.680 align:start and I might not be talking to you now -- 01:10:39.680 --> 01:10:40.980 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right,. 01:10:40.980 --> 01:10:42.280 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- if they hadn't done 01:10:42.280 --> 01:10:44.090 align:start that logging out there. 01:10:44.090 --> 01:10:46.590 align:start Who knows? 01:10:46.590 --> 01:10:51.440 align:start But anyway, that's my story on going out there to record. 01:10:51.440 --> 01:10:54.060 align:start I also did some field hollering. 01:10:54.060 --> 01:10:59.400 align:start I did go to -- when I first heard the music 01:10:59.400 --> 01:11:00.900 align:start in you all's collection, 01:11:00.900 --> 01:11:05.050 align:start I noticed that there was a long tail on the sound 01:11:05.050 --> 01:11:11.650 align:start when a man would go [yodels], it would carry on, and I thought, 01:11:11.650 --> 01:11:13.170 align:start well, that's kind of weird. 01:11:13.170 --> 01:11:17.270 align:start They didn't have special effects back then in 1945. 01:11:17.270 --> 01:11:22.170 align:start There was no such thing as reverb or any of that. 01:11:22.170 --> 01:11:25.230 align:start And it took me a couple of listens to key into that, 01:11:25.230 --> 01:11:28.060 align:start and then I went out to the ranger station a couple 01:11:28.060 --> 01:11:31.820 align:start of years later and she said -- one of the rangers said, 01:11:31.820 --> 01:11:35.690 align:start you know, it carries like that, and I'm like, naw, come on. 01:11:35.690 --> 01:11:39.430 align:start And so I took an assistant out to the swamp, 01:11:39.430 --> 01:11:44.480 align:start and I had a little battery powered recording unit, 01:11:44.480 --> 01:11:49.450 align:start and I got him to position himself a half mile away, 01:11:49.450 --> 01:11:52.820 align:start and I drove down the road, and I sang and sure enough, 01:11:52.820 --> 01:11:55.630 align:start it sounds like the cathedrals in France or something. 01:11:55.630 --> 01:11:59.460 align:start It has this -- just this long sound, and I think that's 01:11:59.460 --> 01:12:02.450 align:start because -- you know, I got a couple of pencils here. 01:12:02.450 --> 01:12:07.100 align:start I didn't save him for that reason, but in that part 01:12:07.100 --> 01:12:09.220 align:start of the country, the trees kind of -- 01:12:09.220 --> 01:12:11.920 align:start I'll put it on the -- here we go. 01:12:11.920 --> 01:12:14.560 align:start The trees kind of look like this. 01:12:14.560 --> 01:12:16.130 align:start The leaves and everything are up top. 01:12:16.130 --> 01:12:18.920 align:start I mean, the branches are up top, but the trunks 01:12:18.920 --> 01:12:22.430 align:start of the trees could be 40, 50 feet high, 01:12:22.430 --> 01:12:23.730 align:start and they're just bare. 01:12:23.730 --> 01:12:25.030 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:12:25.030 --> 01:12:26.330 align:start >> Walter Parks: My point as there's no branches 01:12:26.330 --> 01:12:32.090 align:start on the lower part of the trees, so the those trees kind of serve 01:12:32.090 --> 01:12:39.690 align:start as a spring, as an echo chamber, and it's beautiful. 01:12:39.690 --> 01:12:40.990 align:start You can hear it. 01:12:40.990 --> 01:12:44.540 align:start I recorded it on the tape that I did for you guys, and you can -- 01:12:44.540 --> 01:12:49.750 align:start I demonstrated that, and that was a big thrill 01:12:49.750 --> 01:12:51.710 align:start to just hear it, and there's -- 01:12:51.710 --> 01:12:55.900 align:start what's weird is it has this carry to it for miles. 01:12:55.900 --> 01:13:00.250 align:start It's a double treat, because there's something 01:13:00.250 --> 01:13:04.540 align:start about the trees, they echo it back to you, but they carry it. 01:13:04.540 --> 01:13:08.850 align:start It's a phenomenon that I'm not scientific enough to understand, 01:13:08.850 --> 01:13:12.590 align:start but maybe that'll be part of my research as the years roll by. 01:13:12.590 --> 01:13:14.630 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah, no, it is amazing, and you know, yeah, 01:13:14.630 --> 01:13:15.930 align:start you think about it, and you're right. 01:13:15.930 --> 01:13:17.540 align:start If the leaves were further down, 01:13:17.540 --> 01:13:18.930 align:start they'd break up that sound, but -- 01:13:18.930 --> 01:13:20.230 align:start >> Walter Parks: It'd be dead. 01:13:20.230 --> 01:13:21.530 align:start If they're -- 01:13:21.530 --> 01:13:22.830 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah, yeah. 01:13:22.830 --> 01:13:24.130 align:start That's amazing. 01:13:24.130 --> 01:13:27.520 align:start So one thing that I want to sort of go back and fill 01:13:27.520 --> 01:13:31.020 align:start in because we talked about you're learning viola 01:13:31.020 --> 01:13:32.690 align:start and you're learning guitar, but we didn't actually talk 01:13:32.690 --> 01:13:35.650 align:start about the banjo and when you decided to make 01:13:35.650 --> 01:13:37.270 align:start that [inaudible] learning a banjo, 01:13:37.270 --> 01:13:39.250 align:start because you're good banjo player, man. 01:13:39.250 --> 01:13:40.550 align:start >> Walter Parks: Oh, well, thanks. 01:13:40.550 --> 01:13:44.090 align:start Well, I'm really a guitar player and -- your -- 01:13:44.090 --> 01:13:47.480 align:start this is going to totally discredit me in the folk world 01:13:47.480 --> 01:13:50.320 align:start but the -- you know, remember when I said earlier 01:13:50.320 --> 01:13:52.520 align:start in this interview that I'll just say yes, 01:13:52.520 --> 01:13:54.820 align:start and figure out how to do it later. 01:13:54.820 --> 01:13:57.160 align:start You know, when somebody asked me to sing their wedding, 01:13:57.160 --> 01:13:59.300 align:start initially, I thought, oh, yeah, I'll do that, 01:13:59.300 --> 01:14:01.300 align:start and I didn't really even know how to sing, 01:14:01.300 --> 01:14:03.910 align:start but I taught myself to sing. 01:14:03.910 --> 01:14:07.310 align:start I've been playing banjo for years and I love the banjo, 01:14:07.310 --> 01:14:13.400 align:start and I realized two things about the banjo. 01:14:13.400 --> 01:14:18.280 align:start First of all, I had to accept it as something that was -- 01:14:18.280 --> 01:14:26.090 align:start I had to embrace it as something that I would allow myself 01:14:26.090 --> 01:14:29.430 align:start to play because the banjo forever used 01:14:29.430 --> 01:14:37.530 align:start to symbolize the just the all the negative connotations 01:14:37.530 --> 01:14:41.690 align:start of being a rural southerner and there are those connotations. 01:14:41.690 --> 01:14:44.800 align:start The banjo was part and parcel with that stereotyping 01:14:44.800 --> 01:14:50.590 align:start and I bought into it even as a southerner, so I had to -- 01:14:50.590 --> 01:14:59.820 align:start I realized that, well, first of all, I had to accept it 01:14:59.820 --> 01:15:05.090 align:start as an instrument that I would be willing to be seen with, 01:15:05.090 --> 01:15:08.310 align:start you know, because there's so many bad banjo jokes 01:15:08.310 --> 01:15:15.770 align:start and everything, but I did not start a love for the banjo 01:15:15.770 --> 01:15:18.910 align:start because of folk music. 01:15:18.910 --> 01:15:22.540 align:start My interest in banjo was through jazz, actually. 01:15:22.540 --> 01:15:25.890 align:start And jazz, banjo plays an intricate part 01:15:25.890 --> 01:15:30.430 align:start of Dixieland music, and in trying to find employment 01:15:30.430 --> 01:15:36.660 align:start as a young man in Florida, I started a Dixieland jazz band 01:15:36.660 --> 01:15:42.060 align:start and nobody else in my town could play that type of banjo. 01:15:42.060 --> 01:15:44.760 align:start Given that I grew up in North Florida there were plenty 01:15:44.760 --> 01:15:47.550 align:start of five-string banjo players who played bluegrass 01:15:47.550 --> 01:15:51.200 align:start but I could find none who played ragtime-style banjo 01:15:51.200 --> 01:15:52.500 align:start which is more picking. 01:15:52.500 --> 01:15:55.630 align:start It's kind of like what they do in the mummers parade 01:15:55.630 --> 01:16:03.140 align:start in Philadelphia and that kind of thing in that in that area. 01:16:03.140 --> 01:16:06.970 align:start So it was the New Orleans ragtime kind 01:16:06.970 --> 01:16:11.310 align:start of vibe is what introduced me to banjo and I had 01:16:11.310 --> 01:16:14.510 align:start to find a banjo that was four string. 01:16:14.510 --> 01:16:17.280 align:start It's a tenor banjo is what I'm playing on. 01:16:17.280 --> 01:16:20.370 align:start Now, I have a feeling -- well, it's not a feeling. 01:16:20.370 --> 01:16:23.440 align:start I know that a lot of the banjos that were played 01:16:23.440 --> 01:16:25.710 align:start in those southern areas, 01:16:25.710 --> 01:16:28.060 align:start given that they had the Appalachian influence, 01:16:28.060 --> 01:16:29.560 align:start they were five-string banjos. 01:16:29.560 --> 01:16:31.670 align:start There's a picture of Hamp Mizell 01:16:31.670 --> 01:16:34.520 align:start in the Okefenokee playing a five-string banjo. 01:16:34.520 --> 01:16:39.090 align:start I've found no evidence of any four-string tenor banjo players. 01:16:39.090 --> 01:16:41.980 align:start Nonetheless, that's what I play, and that's what I like to play, 01:16:41.980 --> 01:16:44.970 align:start and it -- my attachment to that instrument came 01:16:44.970 --> 01:16:46.860 align:start through jazz, Stephen, actually. 01:16:46.860 --> 01:16:53.900 align:start But so that was a survival mode, and when I first -- 01:16:53.900 --> 01:16:56.690 align:start so it's when at a before a point in my life, 01:16:56.690 --> 01:17:01.500 align:start I moved to Nashville, and I -- one of the things that I did 01:17:01.500 --> 01:17:03.590 align:start for extra money when I moved 01:17:03.590 --> 01:17:07.100 align:start to Nashville was I started recording live bands, 01:17:07.100 --> 01:17:12.130 align:start and I would do live field recordings of string bands 01:17:12.130 --> 01:17:15.010 align:start and contra dance bands and that sort of thing. 01:17:15.010 --> 01:17:17.720 align:start And, you know, you know this about life, 01:17:17.720 --> 01:17:21.970 align:start when you immerse yourself in something, you kind of start 01:17:21.970 --> 01:17:25.800 align:start to appreciate it on a level and all your prejudices kind 01:17:25.800 --> 01:17:29.000 align:start of go away about it, and I've been -- 01:17:29.000 --> 01:17:32.060 align:start again, because of the reasons that I confessed to you 01:17:32.060 --> 01:17:34.270 align:start of feeling like I was elitely 01:17:34.270 --> 01:17:39.110 align:start above most rural southern folk music, I had no use 01:17:39.110 --> 01:17:43.150 align:start for contra dance music until I started recording it, 01:17:43.150 --> 01:17:47.330 align:start and I started listening to this great songs like Red Wing 01:17:47.330 --> 01:17:50.480 align:start and those sorts of things, and I was like oh my gosh, 01:17:50.480 --> 01:17:54.520 align:start this is beautiful, and it just loops and loops and you get more 01:17:54.520 --> 01:17:57.380 align:start into this mental froth, you know this -- 01:17:57.380 --> 01:18:01.650 align:start you just get more delivered and you go on this journey 01:18:01.650 --> 01:18:05.160 align:start as a dancer more and more every time the song goes around, 01:18:05.160 --> 01:18:08.190 align:start and I started contra dancing, and it's like I started 01:18:08.190 --> 01:18:09.620 align:start to understand that culture. 01:18:09.620 --> 01:18:14.620 align:start And so I began to experiment a little bit 01:18:14.620 --> 01:18:18.430 align:start with claw hammer banjo, which I still don't have but I realized 01:18:18.430 --> 01:18:28.820 align:start that the banjo is a -- the banjo is a humbling instrument 01:18:28.820 --> 01:18:32.460 align:start because if you try to play the banjo, if you try to play 01:18:32.460 --> 01:18:35.900 align:start that notey stuff that I'm doing in the recording for you, 01:18:35.900 --> 01:18:38.840 align:start and you try to do it really hard, it loses all 01:18:38.840 --> 01:18:40.410 align:start of its tone, you know? 01:18:40.410 --> 01:18:45.750 align:start If you just slam into a banjo, it turns to mush. 01:18:45.750 --> 01:18:50.170 align:start It's just like, it sounds like a coffee can, a metal coffee can 01:18:50.170 --> 01:18:51.670 align:start with paperclips in it or something. 01:18:51.670 --> 01:18:52.970 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Right. 01:18:52.970 --> 01:18:55.310 align:start >> Walter Parks: It has no beauty to it, but if you just -- 01:18:55.310 --> 01:18:57.540 align:start you know, I -- you know, my banjo is over there, 01:18:57.540 --> 01:19:01.600 align:start but if you -- you know, you have to play a banjo sort 01:19:01.600 --> 01:19:04.060 align:start of delicately to get the tone out of it. 01:19:04.060 --> 01:19:10.050 align:start And that kind of imposition, that when I found 01:19:10.050 --> 01:19:14.420 align:start that the banjo has a set of rules I had to follow, you know? 01:19:14.420 --> 01:19:15.720 align:start -- 01:19:15.720 --> 01:19:17.020 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:19:17.020 --> 01:19:18.320 align:start >> Walter Parks: -- that little humbling made me respect it a 01:19:18.320 --> 01:19:21.140 align:start lot more, and that's -- 01:19:21.140 --> 01:19:26.430 align:start then I started translating this swamp music to the banjo, 01:19:26.430 --> 01:19:31.170 align:start and in a sense bringing that music back home because I think, 01:19:31.170 --> 01:19:33.390 align:start you know, it's no secret 01:19:33.390 --> 01:19:37.620 align:start that the banjo is originally an adaptation 01:19:37.620 --> 01:19:44.040 align:start of an African instrument, and so I think that oddly enough, 01:19:44.040 --> 01:19:48.260 align:start I think my usage of a very simple banjo, 01:19:48.260 --> 01:19:51.320 align:start a more simpler banjo given the fourth string, 01:19:51.320 --> 01:19:56.720 align:start and given that the banjo, they think came to this -- 01:19:56.720 --> 01:19:59.520 align:start to the what's now known as the United States mostly 01:19:59.520 --> 01:20:02.970 align:start through the Gullah islands off South Carolina, 01:20:02.970 --> 01:20:09.770 align:start and from that area, maybe there's some meaning 01:20:09.770 --> 01:20:14.680 align:start to me just kind of bringing it back to that area in some sense. 01:20:14.680 --> 01:20:18.650 align:start I mean, I don't play country and bluegrass-style banjo, 01:20:18.650 --> 01:20:23.970 align:start but what I did with that song Catfish is I learned this 01:20:23.970 --> 01:20:28.060 align:start Appalachian style of playing because as I said in the 01:20:28.060 --> 01:20:32.620 align:start in the movie that I did for you guys, it was quoted by one 01:20:32.620 --> 01:20:34.310 align:start of the old timers in the Okefenokee, 01:20:34.310 --> 01:20:37.200 align:start if you can't play Catfish, you're not a banjo player, 01:20:37.200 --> 01:20:40.690 align:start so I took it upon myself to learn that and it was hard. 01:20:40.690 --> 01:20:44.430 align:start That song is -- that song was tricky, and it's -- 01:20:44.430 --> 01:20:47.940 align:start I didn't play it that well on the porch, 01:20:47.940 --> 01:20:51.990 align:start but I played it really well, when I right when I followed it 01:20:51.990 --> 01:20:55.070 align:start up with that recording in my studio, so the porch, 01:20:55.070 --> 01:20:59.260 align:start the recording that I submitted to you all, it's the real thing, 01:20:59.260 --> 01:21:01.750 align:start and there's a couple of times that I kind of trip 01:21:01.750 --> 01:21:04.400 align:start up a little bit, but you all forgive me for it, 01:21:04.400 --> 01:21:06.970 align:start because that was real, and there were mosquitoes biting me 01:21:06.970 --> 01:21:09.800 align:start and the heat was so unbearable, but I got through it, 01:21:09.800 --> 01:21:12.720 align:start and but I think it was pretty realistic [inaudible]. 01:21:12.720 --> 01:21:14.330 align:start >> Stephen Winick: It sounded great to us, 01:21:14.330 --> 01:21:16.990 align:start so we were not -- we had no complaints. 01:21:16.990 --> 01:21:18.290 align:start >> Walter Parks: Oh, good, good. 01:21:18.290 --> 01:21:19.590 align:start >> Stephen Winick: And generally, 01:21:19.590 --> 01:21:23.180 align:start the whole concert was kind of an amazing job that you did 01:21:23.180 --> 01:21:27.510 align:start to put all that stuff together in a way that, you know, 01:21:27.510 --> 01:21:33.020 align:start as I said, was a you saw the whole at-home aspect 01:21:33.020 --> 01:21:36.120 align:start of this concert series as an opportunity to do stuff 01:21:36.120 --> 01:21:39.220 align:start that you couldn't have done if you came to the library 01:21:39.220 --> 01:21:42.290 align:start to do it, and we really appreciate that. 01:21:42.290 --> 01:21:43.590 align:start >> Walter Parks: Thank you. 01:21:43.590 --> 01:21:44.890 align:start >> Stephen Winick: And that brings me to, you know, 01:21:44.890 --> 01:21:47.850 align:start to another question that I know 01:21:47.850 --> 01:21:51.680 align:start that you have also been a concert presenter 01:21:51.680 --> 01:21:54.830 align:start and have run some concert series, 01:21:54.830 --> 01:21:57.930 align:start so talk about that experience, and what some of the artists 01:21:57.930 --> 01:22:00.290 align:start that you presented and that experience. 01:22:00.290 --> 01:22:03.780 align:start >> Walter Parks: Well, the most important aspect of this is 01:22:03.780 --> 01:22:09.850 align:start that I got to the point -- I lived in Jersey City for -- 01:22:09.850 --> 01:22:15.440 align:start well, I moved to Jersey City because I got hired by to play 01:22:15.440 --> 01:22:18.080 align:start with Richie Havens, and at the time, Richie Havens was living 01:22:18.080 --> 01:22:20.050 align:start in Jersey City and I thought, 01:22:20.050 --> 01:22:23.640 align:start I'm going to make myself more indispensable, 01:22:23.640 --> 01:22:27.400 align:start as much as a human being can make oneself indispensable, 01:22:27.400 --> 01:22:29.150 align:start if I lived near him. 01:22:29.150 --> 01:22:30.450 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:22:30.450 --> 01:22:33.130 align:start >> Walter Parks: So in that sense, that strategy paid off 01:22:33.130 --> 01:22:35.490 align:start because every day Richie was over at my house 01:22:35.490 --> 01:22:38.730 align:start and we were rehearsing, when we were not on the road. 01:22:38.730 --> 01:22:41.710 align:start Generally, almost every day, we got together and rehearsed 01:22:41.710 --> 01:22:48.200 align:start in my studio, but there was a point that I just got tired 01:22:48.200 --> 01:22:50.910 align:start of living in the shadow of New York City. 01:22:50.910 --> 01:22:55.140 align:start There's so much of everything there. 01:22:55.140 --> 01:22:57.630 align:start It's just, I love the neighborhood. 01:22:57.630 --> 01:23:01.170 align:start I still love the neighborhood, but I had to leave, 01:23:01.170 --> 01:23:04.800 align:start and I went to Savannah, Georgia for a couple of years, 01:23:04.800 --> 01:23:08.590 align:start and I really got back in touch with my roots, 01:23:08.590 --> 01:23:10.640 align:start and that's when I began my research 01:23:10.640 --> 01:23:15.370 align:start on the Okefenokee Swamp, so but I still had property 01:23:15.370 --> 01:23:18.240 align:start in Jersey City, and when I left Savannah to come back 01:23:18.240 --> 01:23:22.620 align:start to Jersey City, I said to myself -- 01:23:22.620 --> 01:23:25.560 align:start my wife and I said to ourselves, no more complaining, 01:23:25.560 --> 01:23:29.960 align:start no more complaining about the shadow of New York City, 01:23:29.960 --> 01:23:34.250 align:start the chaos of Jersey City, and how we're kind 01:23:34.250 --> 01:23:37.690 align:start of culturally a fish out of the water, you know? 01:23:37.690 --> 01:23:44.170 align:start -- and how we are the artists in the community, 01:23:44.170 --> 01:23:45.980 align:start and it's mostly a working class community. 01:23:45.980 --> 01:23:49.650 align:start What are we going to do about the community to make it a place 01:23:49.650 --> 01:23:51.260 align:start that we would want to live? 01:23:51.260 --> 01:23:55.280 align:start So we started giving concerts in our loft, free concerts 01:23:55.280 --> 01:23:56.730 align:start to the general public. 01:23:56.730 --> 01:23:59.400 align:start We would have jazz concerts, opera concerts, 01:23:59.400 --> 01:24:02.200 align:start classical music concerts. 01:24:02.200 --> 01:24:09.680 align:start We would hire ballet dancers, and then the concert series grew 01:24:09.680 --> 01:24:13.220 align:start so much that we couldn't do them in our loft anymore, 01:24:13.220 --> 01:24:18.090 align:start and the public was coming to our house three it -- 01:24:18.090 --> 01:24:21.470 align:start four times a year, every quarter for these free concerts 01:24:21.470 --> 01:24:25.890 align:start that we were giving, and we were hiring the musicians, 01:24:25.890 --> 01:24:28.590 align:start and it was it was a great thing for the musicians. 01:24:28.590 --> 01:24:29.890 align:start It was great for the community. 01:24:29.890 --> 01:24:31.190 align:start Nobody paid for them. 01:24:31.190 --> 01:24:33.760 align:start I mean, the general public didn't have to pay to come 01:24:33.760 --> 01:24:38.320 align:start to see them, and that's very important to me. 01:24:38.320 --> 01:24:41.970 align:start And we started looking for another space and I -- 01:24:41.970 --> 01:24:47.350 align:start we had noticed this abandoned bridge in Jersey City 01:24:47.350 --> 01:24:50.570 align:start that was not being -- that had been cordoned off. 01:24:50.570 --> 01:24:53.510 align:start The city wasn't using the roadway underneath the bridge 01:24:53.510 --> 01:24:56.540 align:start for traffic, because it was a cobblestone street 01:24:56.540 --> 01:24:58.320 align:start and they deemed it too unsafe, 01:24:58.320 --> 01:25:00.570 align:start and so we got the city's permission 01:25:00.570 --> 01:25:05.500 align:start to do a concert series under a 50 foot long street 01:25:05.500 --> 01:25:08.960 align:start that has an arched roof for 50 feet. 01:25:08.960 --> 01:25:11.310 align:start It's got a wonderful arched roof. 01:25:11.310 --> 01:25:13.540 align:start I'm trying to get it right for the -- there we go. 01:25:13.540 --> 01:25:17.580 align:start It's kind of like a cavern that goes 50 feet long. 01:25:17.580 --> 01:25:20.270 align:start It's open on both ends because it's a tunnel, 01:25:20.270 --> 01:25:23.880 align:start so we did this concert series, 01:25:23.880 --> 01:25:27.960 align:start and the first one we did was a -- we had a ballet dancer. 01:25:27.960 --> 01:25:29.310 align:start I wrote the music for it. 01:25:29.310 --> 01:25:33.300 align:start Then we had a baroque classical quartet, 01:25:33.300 --> 01:25:40.850 align:start and then we had an opera singer from Brazil or something, 01:25:40.850 --> 01:25:45.120 align:start and people were just blown away, and we did it every year. 01:25:45.120 --> 01:25:47.240 align:start Fast forward four more years. 01:25:47.240 --> 01:25:50.310 align:start We came up with a name for the concert series. 01:25:50.310 --> 01:25:53.130 align:start We called it The Vault Allure, 01:25:53.130 --> 01:25:56.350 align:start the lure of the vault, The Vault Allure. 01:25:56.350 --> 01:25:59.840 align:start We got a major sponsor in Nokia Bell Labs, 01:25:59.840 --> 01:26:04.200 align:start and we grew from having an audience of 1,000 -- 01:26:04.200 --> 01:26:08.480 align:start an audience of 100 to an audience of 1,000, and my -- 01:26:08.480 --> 01:26:15.700 align:start I had two prerequisites or two adages that I lived by is 01:26:15.700 --> 01:26:20.410 align:start that I wanted the concerts to be -- three adages. 01:26:20.410 --> 01:26:24.370 align:start I wanted the concerts to be free to the general public. 01:26:24.370 --> 01:26:26.560 align:start I wanted the performers to play in the round, 01:26:26.560 --> 01:26:31.140 align:start so that the audience could encircle the musicians 01:26:31.140 --> 01:26:34.480 align:start or the dancers and feel the power and hear the power 01:26:34.480 --> 01:26:38.710 align:start that the musicians were feeling and hearing, and I also wanted 01:26:38.710 --> 01:26:44.280 align:start to present classical forms of music or forms of music 01:26:44.280 --> 01:26:47.200 align:start that were not largely popular. 01:26:47.200 --> 01:26:51.950 align:start I want -- we presented opera music. 01:26:51.950 --> 01:26:53.620 align:start We presented ballet. 01:26:53.620 --> 01:27:03.750 align:start We presented some blues, some jazz music, like a Savannah, 01:27:03.750 --> 01:27:07.630 align:start swing jazz kind of band, and we would bring fire dancers 01:27:07.630 --> 01:27:12.250 align:start in from different areas of the country, and this was just stuff 01:27:12.250 --> 01:27:14.460 align:start that it was just musical entertainment 01:27:14.460 --> 01:27:18.670 align:start that people had never had access to because keep in mind, 01:27:18.670 --> 01:27:21.420 align:start for the most part, Jersey City still is a working 01:27:21.420 --> 01:27:22.720 align:start class neighborhood. 01:27:22.720 --> 01:27:28.890 align:start The only time these folks will see ballet is in a magazine. 01:27:28.890 --> 01:27:30.190 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Yeah. 01:27:30.190 --> 01:27:32.350 align:start >> Walter Parks: And they're not going to go to Lincoln Center 01:27:32.350 --> 01:27:36.820 align:start and pay $100 or $200 a ticket, so we brought ballet 01:27:36.820 --> 01:27:41.880 align:start to this neighborhood, and rather than just perform something 01:27:41.880 --> 01:27:46.070 align:start like Swan Lake or something with tutus, I would put up -- 01:27:46.070 --> 01:27:51.350 align:start there would be dancing in front of this image map, 01:27:51.350 --> 01:27:59.440 align:start highly technical projections on the walls of a cobblestone wall 01:27:59.440 --> 01:28:02.330 align:start that was built during the WPA era, 01:28:02.330 --> 01:28:07.220 align:start so each one of those Belgian block bricks was a different 01:28:07.220 --> 01:28:09.840 align:start image map that was -- that different -- 01:28:09.840 --> 01:28:14.330 align:start that a computer could project a different image onto in front 01:28:14.330 --> 01:28:17.590 align:start of which was a classical ballet dancer 01:28:17.590 --> 01:28:20.700 align:start or a classical singer, an opera singer. 01:28:20.700 --> 01:28:25.990 align:start My point is that I presented in a modern way, old music, 01:28:25.990 --> 01:28:29.870 align:start and people were saying to me, I never knew this music had 01:28:29.870 --> 01:28:32.530 align:start such a sensual allure to it. 01:28:32.530 --> 01:28:36.020 align:start And I go well, yeah, because you can feel it now finally, 01:28:36.020 --> 01:28:38.210 align:start and it's being presented to you in a way 01:28:38.210 --> 01:28:39.810 align:start that you can understand it. 01:28:39.810 --> 01:28:42.290 align:start So we're very proud of that. 01:28:42.290 --> 01:28:45.080 align:start We didn't have one this year because of the COVID, 01:28:45.080 --> 01:28:48.490 align:start but I'm working -- we're still working with it and, you know, 01:28:48.490 --> 01:28:51.830 align:start people can go to the website vaultallure.com and see what's 01:28:51.830 --> 01:28:59.380 align:start up with it, and I'm also doing a project called The Unlawful 01:28:59.380 --> 01:29:03.660 align:start Assembly, which is spiritual music. 01:29:03.660 --> 01:29:06.860 align:start It's a mixed-race band. 01:29:06.860 --> 01:29:08.620 align:start The two of us are white guys, 01:29:08.620 --> 01:29:11.570 align:start and the rest is there was four black members of the group, 01:29:11.570 --> 01:29:15.850 align:start and we're just playing historical American spirituals, 01:29:15.850 --> 01:29:21.110 align:start hymns, work songs, and hollers, and it's a wonderful way 01:29:21.110 --> 01:29:26.320 align:start to present the soundtrack of the making of this country in a way 01:29:26.320 --> 01:29:30.300 align:start that has no political agenda, no spiritual agenda. 01:29:30.300 --> 01:29:32.440 align:start It's just here's what was going 01:29:32.440 --> 01:29:34.720 align:start on when we were making this place, 01:29:34.720 --> 01:29:37.730 align:start and this was the soundtrack. 01:29:37.730 --> 01:29:40.610 align:start This is what -- it doesn't matter if you were working 01:29:40.610 --> 01:29:43.810 align:start in the fields or if you were praying in the churches, 01:29:43.810 --> 01:29:46.550 align:start what was the music that was going on concurrently to all 01:29:46.550 --> 01:29:49.670 align:start of that, and it's a beautiful project, 01:29:49.670 --> 01:29:54.840 align:start and I'm also I'm rehearsing with that, and I'm kind 01:29:54.840 --> 01:29:58.610 align:start of weaving the work that I've done for the Library of Congress 01:29:58.610 --> 01:30:03.090 align:start into that project, because at the end of the day, 01:30:03.090 --> 01:30:08.860 align:start I think there's a very spiritual power to some of these hollers, 01:30:08.860 --> 01:30:11.920 align:start and the shape note singing that was sung 01:30:11.920 --> 01:30:14.590 align:start in the Okefenokee also works well 01:30:14.590 --> 01:30:19.420 align:start with this Unlawful Assembly band that I have, so that's, 01:30:19.420 --> 01:30:21.050 align:start it's all of this is going on. 01:30:21.050 --> 01:30:24.160 align:start And, you know, I'm still -- 01:30:24.160 --> 01:30:29.530 align:start I'm itching to perform again on the road, so. 01:30:29.530 --> 01:30:33.070 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Thank you so much for all you've done for us 01:30:33.070 --> 01:30:36.430 align:start and with our material, and I should say just for the audience 01:30:36.430 --> 01:30:39.710 align:start that that collection is the Francis Harper Collection 01:30:39.710 --> 01:30:42.490 align:start of Music of the Okefenokee Region, 01:30:42.490 --> 01:30:45.650 align:start and Walter Parks's concert can be found on the Library 01:30:45.650 --> 01:30:47.760 align:start of Congress website at loc.gov. 01:30:47.760 --> 01:30:50.390 align:start Just search on his name, Walter parks, 01:30:50.390 --> 01:30:53.130 align:start and you will find the concert as well. 01:30:53.130 --> 01:30:54.430 align:start So thank you so much, Walter. 01:30:54.430 --> 01:30:55.730 align:start I see you have your guitar with us. 01:30:55.730 --> 01:30:58.530 align:start Do you want to play [inaudible] to take us out? 01:30:58.530 --> 01:31:03.010 align:start >> Walter Parks: Yeah, I'll just play a little quick holler. 01:31:03.010 --> 01:31:09.790 align:start And I will say that, again, I want to drive home the point 01:31:09.790 --> 01:31:15.510 align:start that my research work that was made possible 01:31:15.510 --> 01:31:21.080 align:start because of what the Library of Congress has preserved has -- 01:31:21.080 --> 01:31:24.420 align:start the research -- the music 01:31:24.420 --> 01:31:27.320 align:start that I've researched has changed me forever, 01:31:27.320 --> 01:31:34.760 align:start and has shaped how I perform and what I perform for the rest 01:31:34.760 --> 01:31:37.190 align:start of my career, and I remember -- 01:31:37.190 --> 01:31:41.710 align:start I don't remember if it was Toronto or where I was, Montreal 01:31:41.710 --> 01:31:46.460 align:start or some other city when I first met you at a table 01:31:46.460 --> 01:31:49.090 align:start at the Folk Alliance, I just had a great feeling 01:31:49.090 --> 01:31:54.090 align:start that we were going to -- that we shared a passion, 01:31:54.090 --> 01:31:57.450 align:start we shared a passion for research and historical music, 01:31:57.450 --> 01:32:01.200 align:start and I'm so glad that you took an interest in what I'm doing 01:32:01.200 --> 01:32:03.220 align:start and so I'm indebted to you and I -- 01:32:03.220 --> 01:32:06.940 align:start so I've chosen to sing a little bit 01:32:06.940 --> 01:32:12.510 align:start of a holler called the Coming Home Holler. 01:32:12.510 --> 01:34:31.410 align:start [ Singing ] 01:34:31.410 --> 01:34:35.410 align:start >> Stephen Winick: Walter Parks, thank you so much. 01:34:35.410 --> 01:34:37.300 align:start >> Walter Parks: My pleasure. 01:34:37.300 --> 01:34:39.000 align:start That was old school mixing there. 01:34:39.000 --> 01:34:40.770 align:start I hope it sounded all right.