THE LINEUP
A monthly look at must-hear artists from all corners of the guitar world, from the roots of their sound to the tracks that matter most
Yorkshireman Henry Parker is a flourishing singersongwriter and has recently hit his stride with LammasFair, his second album, following on from 2019’s Silent Spring. He was also entrusted by Tompkins Square label owner, Josh Rosenthal, to curate a compilation – ImaginationalAnthemVol.XII:IThought IToldYou – dedicated to the much-missed guitarist Michael Chapman. “When I got to 10 years old I realised the guitar was something I really enjoyed doing,” he tells us of how his guitar journey started. “By the end of primary school I was listening to bands like Saxon and Iron Maiden and I’d really caught the bug.”
To The Other Side
It was several years later that Henry moved from his early metal interests to more folk-based music. “I was at uni studying popular music broadly,” he explains. “As a teenager I kept up the heavy metal infatuation – and I still like lots of it, but I’m more picky now. I thought then that folk music was just G, Cand Dstrumming, but then I heard Martin Simpson and thought, ‘Wow! I didn’t realise you could be a virtuoso folk guitarist.’ That really caught my attention, so I got into it from the guitar playing side; now, it’s just this huge rabbit warren of discovery. The Bert Jansch and Nick Drake period feels like a real heyday of steel-string players.”
In Praise Of Davey Graham
When it comes to influential albums, Henry is quick to mention one in particular: “I’m constantly going back to Davey Graham’s Folk,BluesAndBeyond,” he says. “It’s one I got into really early, one of the first folk albums I really listened to. It’s amazing what he was doing and I feel he is massively neglected as an insanely creative player. For me, he’s like Jimi Hendrix and I think all of his stuff should be written out and analysed in forensic detail. I’ve learned a couple of Davey Graham tunes, like Leaving Blues; I was learning loads from transcribing that and it was only a few months ago. I was slowing down the recording and learning lots about how he does things.”
Folk Meets Psychedelia
As for Henry’s own work, his second album, Lammas Fair, sees the guitarist take a leap forward from Silent Spring as he brings a more psychedelic edge to his sound. “I really enjoyed discovering the interweaving happening in 60s London,” he smiles. “B
