Parker Millsap

One Liner: Well-crafted Americana from an OK boy
Wikipedia Genre: Americana, Roots Rock, Country
Spotify Says Similar To: Andrew Combs and Justin Townes Earle
Home: Purcell, OK

Poster Position: 17
Slot: Saturday, ?

Thoughts:  According to bios, this guy came up singing in church and has parlayed that experience into some acclaimed albums that landed him opening spots for bands like Jason Isbell and Old Crow Medicine Show.  I've spent the entire day going through all three of these albums and can easily say that it is really good stuff.  Nothing flashy, just well-crafted lyrics and comfortable tunes to go along with them.  The most recent album, 2016's The Very Last Day, has the vast majority of the top ten most popular on Spotify, but the most listened to song overall is from the sophomore album, 2014's Parker Millsap.  "Old Time Religion" clocks in at 2.5 million streams.

Live version, but you get the gist.  Great voice, shifting from pure to rough and back, with a nice little vibrato as he goes along.  Surprisingly young-looking dude.  His voice makes him sound like a grizzled veteran of the late night bar scene, but he looks like a guy who DeCaprio is going to play in a made for TV special in a few years.  Right behind that track in number of listens, a track from the 2016 album also has just over 2.5 million streams.  This is "Jealous Sun."

 Another cleanly beautiful track with strong vocals.  Sounds almost like a hymn.  Millsap also has a two song EP (or should that be considered just a single?  The record business is weird now) with Sarah Jarosz (who I think is the absolute bomb) from 2017, and it is pretty solid too.  I got all frothed up about it because the second song is a cover of "The Glory of Love," which I thought would be some power Cetera badassery to think about Mr. Muyagi to, but instead it was the old Otis Redding/Benny Goodman tune.  Dangit.  Nonetheless, I AM the man who will fight for your honor.  FYI.  
All of that being said, and despite the fact that I did it all for the glory of love, I'm not so sure how this guy will do his thing in front of a big crowd.  I bet he's the type that will be great to hear from the diagonal stages early afternoon on Sunday, where you can just lay out and enjoy the tunes while staring at the clouds rolling by in the sky.

Recommend?  For sure.