Herschel Parker
In this week's episode, we're shining the spotlight on just one of the many singers who made up the local fabric of country music nationwide. These were the entertainers and musicians on the ground across the USA and beyond who kept country music vital and happening over countless years in countless venues, clubs, honky tonks and roadhouses during the genre's heyday. These figures are seldom mentioned or remembered outside a regional area and seldom have their story told - but we're going to attempt to do that with one such singer. This singer's name is Herschel Parker, born in Daisy, Arkansas and active around the Fort Smith, Arkansas and River Valley area since the 1950s. Parker had more than a few brushes with some very big names in country music and his lengthy career has taken him from Arklahoma to Nashville and back again. He's a man who held down a steady job with one company for 46 years, raised five boys and was married for forty years - enjoying bouts of local celebrity, including big radio airplay on his historical country tune in 1976 about Fort Smith's ubiquitous Judge Parker (no relation). This week's show features stories, anecdotes and more importantly music from Herschel Parker's long career in the entertainment biz - and you can guarantee you won't get this local anywhere else. Turn it up!