J.D. Parks

JD Parks is a transplanted DC-area musician with over 25 years of performance experience. Having traveled all over the United States and overseas, JD brings some real mileage and experience to his performances, marked by raw, powerful and soulful vocals, as well as Son House-inspired slashing bottleneck slide in his Delta-style blues. While primarily a solo acoustic (guitar, resonator guitar and harmonica) performer, J.D. is equally comfortable in most other genres, as well, covering styles ranging from early Chicago blues to Nashville country to Motown R&B to classic rock. He shows his experience in not only musicianship, but also an easy, almost familial rapport with any size audience, and punctuates the music with wit and warmth. From spending his formative years picking cotton on a family member's farm in west Texas (and sneaking a listen to his great-grandfather's 78 rpm "race records"), to serving his country in the military for several years, to working as a mechanic (motorcycles and airplanes), to raising foster children, J.D. embodies the blues. He's had his share of hardship, but come through it with irrepressible spirit, and shares that through his music. The late John Lee Hooker said, "Blues is a Healer," and both as a combat medic and now as a musician, J.D. lives by those words.