Graham Parker to Play Miners Foundry on May 11

Nevada City, CA May 4, 2023 – “It’s all about being entertained,” Graham Parker said with a smile. The longtime front man of Graham Parker and the Rumour brings a solo set to Miners Foundry on May 11th.

Since he burst onto the London scene in the 1970’s, Parker has been slinging a signature sound across continents that has rightly earned him a spot in the pantheon of truly original and influential figures in rock and roll. A punk icon, Parker came out swinging.  

“I attacked people like I wanted to kill them with my early records, which is quite unpleasant when you think about it,” he recalled with a laugh. “It’s a very different animal now, I’m not going to go out shouting at them. That doesn’t mean I’m not intense, I’m always intense.”

Now, in his prime years and still making records, Parker tours an enormous catalogue and identifies more as a singer-songwriter than an attacker, “After more than twenty studio records, the variety has nothing to do with any genre. Playing songs solo reinvents them every time. It’s the most creative performing method for me, I can stretch things out, change arrangements on the spot – usually that happens when I screw up, but it leads to some pretty marvelous things.”

With a customary grin, Parker described his solo set as, “A third stand-up comedy, with the explanations of the songs, where they come from. It’s the primal thing of a storyteller around a campfire. It’s a community thing. A lot of people like it a great deal if they come along for the ride.”

Parker has been recording albums for more than five decades, including two to grace Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 Albums of All Time” lists.  Parker has a plethora of songs to share around the proverbial campfire. Each show is curated specially for what Parker wants to express he said. “A set is not just a bunch of songs. There’s a kind of architecture. I’m playing a new song off my upcoming album, songs from [first studio album] Howling Wind that I’ve reinvented, stuff from Acid Bubblegum that holds up for me.”

For those expecting a sleepy evening of solo tunes, Parker gleefully cautioned, “It’s not just sitting on a stool. I brought an acoustic guitar and an electric, the voice is hard and gritty but still crooning, I put a lot of work into [performing]. That’s my job. It’s all about being entertained.”

This show will be Parker’s first opportunity to entertain Nevada County and he is looking forward to the challenge of the encounter, saying, “The immediacy of these small venues leave the kind of show it’s going to be up to the audience. You can feel, as we used to say, ‘the vibe’. The hardest gigs are the smaller audiences. The big stuff is easy. It’s easy to go out in front of a huge crowd with a big band and the theatrics. I opened for Bob Dylan at an aerodrome with 150,000 people and the energy is already there. In the small places you have to do battle every night.”

Prepare to be fully entertained, Thursday, May 11^th. Get your tickets today

For more information about coming events: www.minersfoundry.org

The Miners Foundry Cultural Center is a living historic treasure serving Nevada County as a cultural art and community events center. More than a venue, the nonprofit’s mission is to preserve, enhance and utilize the historic Miners Foundry for cultural, educational, and social activities in Nevada County. It is a symbol of California’s rich historical heritage, providing an educational and social bridge from our past to the present and future.