Meet Mike Parker

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Mike Parker. Mike was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Drew Nathan.

Mike, thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
I really grew up fascinated with music. My mom was a single mom and I still remember riding in the backseat as she listened to 80s and 90s R&B. We always had Mariah Carey, Salt&Peppa, or Prince playing. She gave me a little boombox and a Mariah Carey CD and from then on it was really only music for me. I asked for a drum set for Christmas in the 2nd grade and I promptly made her regret buying it for me with my loud banging.

By high school I had moved on to bass, guitar, piano, and singing. At 15 I started a band with some kids from my church and by 18 we had a booking agent and I spent most of my weekends on the road. As everyone went off to college I just kinda stuck with it. I spent the next ten years chasing every gig I could until I ended up in the UK working on a record as a guitar player, songwriter, and band director. In the UK I was able to work with Sam Gibson, who is an incredible mix engineer. That’s when I really started thinking about producing music and how much it really fed my need to play everything. Since then I’ve been building my own production and mix studio as well as session playing for anything that comes my way.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
I really love building songs. I love sitting down and finding the best word for a melody or the best riff in a song. I also love helping newer artists who may not have the big budgets of others. I feel like every city I’ve been to has local talent that would blow the mass away if they were given the right tools. I really want to be someone that young artists can come to when they need that first push. I don’t have all the bells and whistles of the biggest producers but I have a passion for the small artists trying to break through.

Drew Nathan has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Drew and your experience with them.
I’ve known Drew for a long time. We met through a love of music and spent about 10 years working together through various projects and gigs. Drew has always been an incredible songwriter and easy to work with. I feel like he sees a song when it’s just a line written.

We had similar backgrounds and grew up rebellious punk rock kids in the country music south. As much as we hated country as kids, it definitely left a mark on us. When he came to me with an idea for a country record it just all clicked. It’s like he really found his space telling stories about his childhood and country upbringing. He just flows out country music. So many of the songs came from us just riffing about growing up, it was just so natural to write. Drew is an incredible songwriter and is just going to keep getting better.

Instagram: @mike.of.earth

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketparker