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Wayland musician Dave Parker has long been a regular at local MetroWest venues — he’s got solo acoustic shows coming up at The Sudbury Point Grill (July 25), The Fix Burger Bar in Marlborough (July 26), Ziti’s Italian Trattoria in Natick (Aug. 1) and Ken’s Steak House in Framingham (Aug. 15), to name a few.
But he’s also onto something bigger.
Parker, 55, has qualified to participate in America’s Next Top Hit Maker, a national online talent competition for musicians, bands or artists for the chance to perform as an opening act at the 2025 Global Citizen Festival in New York City’s Central Park, appear in Rolling Stone magazine and collect a cool $50,000.
He placed first in the quarterfinals on July 17, and has now advanced to the semifinals. Should he make it past that round, he would move on to the finals, “which is the deciding factor of who wins the whole competition,” he said, adding that the winner will be announced in August.
You can vote for Parker at through 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 24.
The competition is being sponsored by Global Citizen, an international advocacy organization dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty and creating a world where everyone has an equal chance to thrive. For the competition, Global Citizen partnered with SoundCloud and Rolling Stone magazine.
“I’m really grounded with this,” Parker said. “Whatever the outcome is, I will always be incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity.”
Dave Parker is a chip off the old block
Parker grew up around music. His father, Tony Parker, was an accomplished pianist and composer who performed professionally throughout Greater Boston.
“My dad was so talented — he was my musical hero,” Parker said. “He started teaching me piano at age 5. He used to teach during the day and perform at night. We used to go and see him play on occasion. Hearing that music put a spark in me that I never looked back from.”
Music took on a new dimension when Parker was 10 and got into the Beatles.
“I’m a big John Lennon guy,” he said. “I have many framed pictures of the Beatles around my studio for inspiration.”
Parker graduated in 1987 from Wayland High School, then attended MassBay Community College. He played in bands throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2003, he started playing acoustic gigs solo.
“Music was part time for me then; I worked a regular full-time job,” Parker said. “I went full time as a musician in 2018.”
Parker met his wife, Beth, in November 2006 at the now-closed Nobscot Café in Framingham. The couple have been married for 17 years and have a daughter, Edan, and a son, Teddie, both teenagers.
He writes songs from experience: ‘It doesn’t have to be literal’
Parker has always written his own music/melodies and songs. His songs come from his own experiences, and he’s thrilled that people can interpret his lyrics and apply them to what’s going on in their own lives.
“I’ve had people come up to me at shows and tell me they really liked the lyrics to a certain song, and that they can really relate to it,” he said. “The wonderful thing about translating through songwriting is that it doesn’t have to be literal for people to be inspired.”
A plus for a performing artist is being comfortable engaging with people, something Parker enjoys.
“I like to talk to folks between songs,” he said. “I love taking requests. When you can play something special for someone, or something you know people will like, and you see those smiles, that’s the greatest reward.”
Besides the Beatles, Parker has been inspired by the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Little Richard, the Who, Santana, Chuck Berry and many others.
“Those early rock and roll songs told a story,” he said. “Johnny B. Goode is rock and roll poetry at its finest.”
Parker’s Wayland home studio is former blacksmith’s shop
Parker is mainly a guitarist and vocalist but can also plays drums, piano, bass, organ and percussion. He has performed throughout Massachusetts, as well as other parts of New England, and has gained a loyal following. He was recently interviewed on YouTube by podcaster Shaun Martin.
Joe Willis, also a musician, met Parker while on the local MetroWest music scene.
“I was in a band doing classic rock and we were looking for a guitar player,” he said. “We went and saw Dave at the old Nobscot’s Café. He was fantastic. He had a great sound, great tone and music theory.”
Willis enjoyed playing with Parker “because he was so accurate as a musician.”
Parker is also a producer and an engineer at his home recording studio, Electric Sky Studios, housed in a building off his Wayland home.
“This house has been in my wife’s family since 1870, and was built by her great-great-grandfather,” he said. “The studio building was previously a blacksmith’s workshop back in the late 1800s, early 1900s.”
Turning poetry into music: ‘I kind of wear a lot of hats’
According to local poet Ellen Marston, Parker works magic in the recording studio.
“I write poetry, and for 10 years I kept saying to him we’ve got to put one of my poems to music,” Marston said. “I told him my vision for the music. I saw him be creative and innovative in a language I didn’t speak. I was so impressed. To see him in his element and take the words I had put down and turn them into a song was unbelievable.”
Parker played every instrument and sang the lyrics, Marston said.
“I was just so amazed by how talented and detail-oriented he is,” she said.
Parker records his own music, and does small recording projects with local artists. He also does session work for others, and is a band coach for a few local musicians. He gives guitar lessons to several students of different ages and skill levels.
“I kind of wear a lot of hats,” Parker said. “I’m grateful to be able to do this and help people achieve their musical goals.”
Keeping the music going, passing along the ‘toolbox’
Parker has released two singles, “Don’t Get Me Wrong (This Is My Song)” and “High Tech Trauma,” both of which can be found on Spotify and Applie Music. He’s currently finishing up a six-song EP, to be released later this year, and regularly performs many live acoustic shows.
“I am so grateful and blessed to be able to do this and support my family,” Parker said. Speaking of family, he has brought his children into the “family business.”
“My daughter, Edan, is doing very well with guitar,” he said. “She’s very active in sports so we’re trying to find a balance between that and music. My son, Teddie, plays piano and has weekly lessons with me in the studio. He also briefly played trumpet as well.”
While Parker said there’s still plenty for him to learn, there’s nothing better than passing this information on the way it was passed on to him.
“It brings me such pleasure to know I’m passing along what I call my musical toolbox,” he said, “the things I’ve accumulated over the years that I’ve learned from many others. I’m really blessed to be able to do that.”
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