Anders Parker

about

Anders Parker is a modest man who lives in Burlington, Vermont and works as a musician. People who are into American songwriters know him as the frontman of Varnaline. That band enjoyed the support of so many enthusiastic reviews and high-profile fans (most recently Steve Earle, who released the last Varnaline record on his own boutique label ESquared/ Artemis) that it became a widely held consensus that they were underrated. Which was impossible, though not the fault of the listening public, who actually really do have a bit of an ear, sort of. Parker grew up on an old farm in New York’s Hudson Valley, amid apple orchards, strip malls, and liberal arts colleges, listening to The Beatles, Bob Dylan and ABBA. Later, his interest flowed to R.E.M., The Replacements, Husker Du, The Smiths, etc. … “Anyone who can write a song,” as he once put it, had a fan in Anders Parker. During his twenties, he moved to Portland, OR, bought a four-track and entered the lofty ranks of real-deal troubadours. 1996’s Man of Sin (an Anders Parker solo album released under the name Varnaline) introduced Parker’s knack for new chord structures that feel lived in, and lyrics that delicately illustrate our world’s myriad variations on the sadly beautiful and beautifully sad. The next year Varnaline became a band, as Anders’ brother John Parker got on board as bassist. Drummer Jud Ehrbar, an old friend of both Parkers, joined on the condition that Anders help out with Ehrbar’s other band, Space Needle.

top songs

albums

Tell It To The Dust

Anders Parker

Skyscraper Crow

Paint It Black: An Alt Country Tribute To The Rolling Stones

There's A Blue Bird In My Heart

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Cross Latitudes

Introducing Townes Van Zandt Via the Great Unknown

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The Man Who Fell from Earth

The Wounded Astronaut

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SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist

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High Flying Bird

14th & Division

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