Drew Parker

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Interview with Drew Parker

Country Thunder Arizona

October16, 2021

By Mary Andrews

Drew Parker has been singing for the public literally his entire life. He first sang gospel music and that later evolved into country music. One might say music is in his blood. He has written number one hit songs for Jake Owen and Luke Combs to his credit and his talent continues to explode.

Parker was the first act performing on the third day of Country Thunder Arizona and Unrated was able to catch Parker at a quiet moment after his set for a chat about his past, present, and future. Here’s what we learned.

Mary Andrews: I understand that you work a lot with Luke Combs. When did you start singing?

Drew Parker: Yes, I do work with Luke quite a bit. I grew up singing as a kid. I started singing in the church. It started very early for me. I was probably three the first time I sang on stage. I took music seriously when I was ten years old. I traveled singing gospel music for a long time as a kid.

MA: Did you travel with your family? Were your parent’s singers?

DP: I traveled with my family, but my parents were not singers. My grandparents were singers. My dad can sing too, but they would basically haul me around. I would do solo stuff. Sometimes it would be family stuff, but it was me by myself.

MA: Did you play guitar that young?

DP: I did not play guitar then. I picked up the guitar my senior year of high school. I was a late bloomer when it came to guitar. I started playing piano when I was ten or eleven. I could mess around on the piano a little bit. That was the first instrument I really learned to play. Guitar came later when I wanted to write songs.

MA: Were you making money then?

DP: Yes! It was kind of funny unlike most of my friends had to get jobs waiting tables and I would make enough money to put gas in my truck for the week and whatever I needed. I loved doing music. When I was 18 I loved country music and I decided I wanted to go perform country music. I started going to little pizza joints and places like that in my hometown. I put a tip jar out and I played cover songs.

MA: So you did gospel and country music. No rock n roll?

DP: No rock n roll!

MA: I understand you have a new EP out. How is that going for you?

DR: It’s going great. I had recorded this new music back in 2019. The plan was to put it out in early 2020 because I was going on tour with Luke Combs. I was going to use the tour to support that music. When Covid happened, we put the halt on that. Late last year, I thought the fans deserved the music that I recorded for them. We ended up putting it out. The single “While You’re Gone” got picked up by Serous XM. They kind of made it blow up. Fans started falling in love with it. In November of las year, based on how well it was doing, I signed a record deal with Warner Records. Now to have my debut single on country radio, it’s really special. I got to stand by the stage and watch songs I’ve written for other artists like Luke Combs and Jake Owen. I’ve watched fans sing the song back to them. Now to have the support of country radio and to have the fans sings the songs back to me is really special.

MA: How did you meet Luke?

DR: I met Luke Combs seven years ago. I had been asked to open for him in a bar in Rome, Georgia. I think I got paid $100.There were 40 people there. That’s how many bought a ticket that night. We met that night and hit it off in the green room. We talked about how much we loved country music, Keith Whitley and Eric Church. We created a friendship over that. We’ve been a really good friends ever since. The fans love him.

MA: What else have you been doing during the pandemic?

DR: Me and my wife had a baby at the very beginning of the pandemic. I’ve been learning how to be a dad for the last year and a half. That’s been real special. I hated being off the road and not getting to play shows. Getting to spend that time raising my kid was great to have the opportunity to do that. I’ve also been able to write new music. That’s kind of where I am right now. I’ve been writing songs and trying to figure out what is next for me. Like what do I want to put out next?

MA: What is your dream?

DR: My dream is to be headlining Country Thunder. To be the last artist at Country Thunder or to be the main artist at a festival. All I’ve ever wanted to do is to sing country music. Just getting to do that is super special to me. That is the main goal for me. Also to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry is another goal. That’s the dream. I just have to keep working hard at it until it happens.

MA: If you could only listen to three albums over the next year, what would they be?

DR: (Without hesitation) The first one would be LA to Miami by Keith Whitley. I’d have to put Alan Jackson in there, the Chattahoochee record. And I would have to put Hard Working Man by Brooks and Dunn. That would be the three.

MA: Dead or Alive, who would you like to meet?

DR: Keith Whitley. Keith Whitley is my hero.

MA: Same question except, who would you like to see perform?

DR: I never got to see Merle Haggard. I would probably choose him or Keith Whitley, either one.

MA: You may have already answered this, but if you weren’t making a living in music, what would you do?

DR: I have a degree in radiology so I would probably be doing that. If I had to pick something crazy to do, I would try to be a Nascar driver. It’s a lot more dangerous that playing country music. It would be a lot of fun. I love it.

MA: What’s the worst job you ever had?

DR: Probably cutting grass. It’s a fun job until you do it every day. I’d come home with dust everywhere. Dust was in places where dust shouldn’t be. I would have to pick that one.

MA: We know you’re married. If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask yourself?

DR: Oh, man, that’s a good question. I think it would be, when you are long gone, what do you want people to remember you for or what do you want people to say about you? My answer would be, I want people to know that I want to be known as a good father, a good husband, a good brother, a good son, a good guy on the road with my band. I love Jesus and I love drinking cold beer. I think you can do all those things and be just fine.

MA: I think so too.