Texas Tunes: Lee Roy Parnell at Lewisville Grand Theater
No Depression may have said it best when they called Lee Roy Parnell, “…a fine writer blessed with a rich, soulful vocal delivery and a blistering array of guitar chops drawn almost equally from Texas blues, Memphis soul, and Southern rock traditions.”
Parnell is an ace guitarist who is known as one of the best slide guitarists on the planet, smooth soul-drenched vocalist, hit top-shelf songwriter, his music runs the gamut of diversity. Combining the influences of Blue-Eyed Soul, Delta Blues, Road House Rock, Southern Boogie, Texas Swing, Country and Gospel, Parnell’s sound defies conventional classification. He draws from a broad range of musical sources and combines them with seamless dexterity, and, unlike many other hard-to-pigeonhole artists, Parnell has enjoyed a run of success on the country and blues charts.
After honing his skills over more than a decade of playing clubs in Austin, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and New York, Parnell laid a new foundation in Nashville. Parnell has earned two GRAMMY® Award nominations for his instrumental tracks “Cat Walk” (with Flaco Jiménez) and “Mama, Screw Your Wig On Tight” and was nominated for the CMA Vocal Event of the Year on “John the Revelator” (with The Fairfield
Four).
Reserved Seating:
Tier 1: $35
Tier 2: $25
Lewisville residents may purchase select $20 tickets, subject to availability, in person with proof of residency at The Grand during regular business hours.
Sales tax and ticket fees are included in the price.
The Grand is Lewisville’s home for the arts. It presents a variety of regional and national touring performers, art exhibits, and classes, while also giving the many arts groups in the greater Lewisville area a facility to perform and display their works. Its multiple performance spaces play host to a variety of events, including live music, theater, dance performances, comedy shows, and more. The center features the 294-seat Huffines Performance Hall, black box theater, recital hall, art gallery, and courtyard.
To reach The Grand from Interstate 35E, take exit 452 and proceed east on Main Street to Charles Street. The Grand will be on the left. Free public parking is available along Main and Church streets, or at Lewisville City Hall across Church Street from the center. Please be aware that there is heavy road construction at the Main Street interchange with 35E that will cause delays.
For details about upcoming events, or rental information for the facility, please visit LewisvilleGrand.com or call 972.219.8446.
About the Artist:
Born in Abilene, Texas to Roy and Anna Belle Parnell in the winter of 1956, Parnell was raised with an uncompromising work ethic, a healthy respect for tradition, and an unquenchable love of music. Nurtured by everything from the Grand Ol’ Opry, to Cotton-country Blues, Hardshell Gospel and the inescapable sound of Bob Wills and Roadhouse Boogie that permeated the North Central Texas plains, that love grew into a passion before Parnell reached his early teens.
“It sounds a little like a press-release,” he said recently, “but the truth is I was raised in a house filled with music. It was as much a part of the soundtrack of youth as my mother’s voice and my Daddy’s lessons. It was sustenance to me…like water. And it was my way out of Texas. It was my map.” In the summer of seventy-four, he set out for the only destination on that map that made sense: Nashville.
For nearly twenty years, Parnell paid his dues in every honky-tonk and blues bar from Nashville to Austin and back, honing his craft, sharpening his vocal chops, and fine-tuning the blues-infused slide-guitar style that would become his signature.
“I’m a blue-eyed country soul singer and slide guitar player by trade…that’s how I see it,” Parnell told a Texas journalist late in 2014. “And I’m privileged to practice a trade that’s brought so many blessings to my life.”Blessings that include eight critically-acclaimed albums, and a string of hits that established him as one of Country Music’s most gifted triple-threats; as a singer, a writer, and virtuoso guitarist. Talents that brought him nomination nods from the Grammy Awards, the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, legions of hardcore fans, and induction into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame. But they were blessings that came neither easily nor quickly for this singularly brilliant American artist; a fact Parnell acknowledges and embraces. “It takes a little while in this business to figure out who you is and who you ain’t,” he told Rock & Blues Muse recently. “But I’m little older, now, and there’s one thing I’ve realized about myself —
— I’m a survivor. That’s what I am.”
More about Lee Roy Parnell, including upcoming shows