13-522: Mel Parsons (born 21 October 1981) is an indie folk and alternative country singer/songwriter from New Zealand . Parsons grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Cape Foulwind , near Westport , on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island . Parsons started out playing piano, and also picked up the guitar at about 14, finally getting serious in seventh form (about age 17) when applying for
26-536: A large New Zealand performance collective, Fly My Pretties . She also has toured Australia with Anika Moa . Parsons was invited to perform at the Folk Alliance International in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Parsons released her fifth studio album, Slow Burn , on 16 September 2022. It contains the singles "Carry On", "Already Gone", and the title track "Slow Burn". On 7 June 2024, she released her sixth studio album, Sabotage . It has reached no. 5 on
39-752: Is the first album Parsons recorded outside of New Zealand. It was recorded in the US in Santa Monica, California , with producer Mitchell Froom . The logistics and finances made it impractical to bring her backing band over from New Zealand, so Froom recruited some local musicians to back Parsons on the album. The backing band for the album consists of bass player Kaveh Rastegar , guitarist Adam Levy , and drummer Ted Poor. Parsons performs rural woolshed tours across New Zealand with Amelia Dunbar and Emma Newborn (The Bitches Box). Although she sometimes tours by herself, and sometimes with her backing band, she has also joined
52-1151: The Nelson School of Music. After a year of music school, Parsons went overseas for a period, then returned to New Zealand to attend the University of Auckland , where she studied popular music and performance, along with history, anthropology and Spanish. Parsons has lived in various parts of the world. She spent a year close to the Atacama Desert in Chile, and two years in the Rocky Mountains in Canada. Early influences on Parsons were Cat Stevens , Paul Simon , Mark Knopfler , The Police , Sinéad O'Connor , Bob Dylan , Tom Petty , Neil Young and Neil Diamond . Later influences were Tracy Chapman , Ray LaMontagne , Damien Rice , Gillian Welch , Ron Sexsmith , and The Shins . In 2007, Parsons returned to New Zealand to start work on her first album. The album
65-495: The acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its earliest origins in 1990s folk artists who displayed alternative rock influences in their music, such as Ani DiFranco and Dan Bern , and acoustic artists such as Elliott Smith and Will Oldham . In the following decade, labels such as Saddle Creek , Barsuk , Ramseur, and Sub Pop helped to provide support to indie folk, with artists such as Fleet Foxes breaking into
78-580: The pop charts with albums such as Helplessness Blues . In the United Kingdom , artists such as Ben Howard and Mumford & Sons emerged, with the latter band promoting the music style through their Gentlemen of the Road touring festivals. The success of acts like Mumford & Sons led some music journalists like Popjustice's Peter Robinson labelling this new British music scene as The New Boring or Beige Pop. A decade later,
91-559: The New Zealand music charts. Parsons currently lives in Lyttelton, New Zealand . She tours so frequently that she is rarely home. Parsons was nominated for the following awards: Parsons has won the following awards: Indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk ) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music . Indie folk hybridizes
104-402: The other half of the song "Don't Wait", and he agreed. Another song on the album, "Get Out Alive", is the result of her writing about a dangerous car accident she was in where the car rolled four times and was totaled, but she walked out without serious injury, but found herself re-evaluating her life for a time. Parsons released her fourth album, Glass Heart on 30 November 2018. Glass Heart
117-562: The songs of the album starting in 2020 at her home in Lyttelton, New Zealand with guitarist and producer Josh Logan. Parsons is a self-managing artist who makes her living as a touring performer, but the Covid pandemic slowed that done, reducing the gigs and the income. To keep busy from early 2020 onwards, Parsons recorded the new music with Logan, while also performing in showcase performances such as live tribute shows for Dire Straits, Beatles, and Elton John. Her first single released, "Carry On"
130-492: The terms "stomp and holler", "stomp clap hey", and "hoedown pop" were coined to refer retrospectively to such bands. In the late 2010s, artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker revived interest in the genre. Bridgers cites Elliott Smith as a foundational influence on her sound. Slow Burn (Mel Parsons album) Slow Burn is the fifth album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Mel Parsons , released on 16 September 2022 on Cape Road Recordings. Parsons wrote
143-661: Was adopted as an anthem for people getting through the pandemic lockdowns, although the song was written earlier. Additional singles released prior to the album release include "Already Gone" and "Slow Burn". Slow Burn was recorded at LOHO Studios in Christchurch, New Zealand. Josh Logan recorded and produced the album, as well as leading the band by performing on guitar, piano, and backing vocals. The band also consisted of Parsons cousin Jed Parsons on drums and backing vocals, and Aaron Steward on bass. Parsons arranged for
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#1732791426223156-557: Was recorded in Studio One, Boatshed Studios, and The Spare Room, in Auckland , New Zealand. Parsons recorded her third studio album, Drylands at Surgery Studios. The album was engineered by Lee Prebble who, along with mixing engineer Oliver Harmer, won the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards for best engineer for the album. One of the songs Parsons wrote was a duet, and she decided to cold e-mail Ron Sexsmith to see if he would perform
169-587: Was written by Parsons, and recorded with co-producer Shaun Elley and her backing band, The Rhythm Kings. The album Over My Shoulder was released in 2009. Parsons created her own label, Cape Road Recordings, releasing her album independently while using the New Zealand music firm Border Music for distribution. All of her albums have been released on her label. In 2011, Parsons released her second studio album, Red Grey Blue , featuring Anika Moa and Greg Johnson on harmonies, Bruce Lynch on double bass, and Don McGlashan on baritone horn, along with others. The album
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