David Roy Parsons

I love receiving mail, so you can imagine my delight when I found a parcel waiting outside my door when I was about to enter a snowstorm.  I opened it at once to find that my copy of David Roy Parsons’ fourth album Time And Travel (2011) had safely arrived.  Time And Travel is a collection of songs written from the inspiration of Wells, B.C., Ottawa’s Chateau Laffeyette, Vancouver’s Railway Club, Vancouver’s Our Lady of Constant Sorrow School, Guatemala, Botswana and the people who inhabit these places.  While a wide geographical landscape inspired Time And Travel, the sounds from this album makes me crave a rural destination.

The storytelling of David Roy Parsons makes me feel as if I’m in a cozy bar or on a road trip through Canada’s interior, tracing the landscape of Parsons’ songs.  On the first track “Joel And Elsie And The Ballad Of The Giant Radish,” the fairytale-like sounds of a flute whirl through the garden of the ballad.  Parsons’ voice is in conversation with supporting female vocals (Karyn Ellis) as they play the parts of Joel and Elsie, a couple sharing stories about growing the best vegetables they can for one another.  This track features shakers, congas and an accordion that together lend a more mysterious sound to Parsons’ music.   Time And Travel features these more eclectic sounds with those from typical bluegrass instrumentation-viola, banjo, mandolin, and the slide guitar.

Continue reading →