Krista Parrish: Press

Krista Parrish Is Making A Big Impact

Doylestown native Krista Parrish is making a big impact on the local and national jazz circuit. Her music infuses jazz, blues, folk, and funk to produce unique and haunting music. Born into a musical family; her mother a trained opera singer and her father is a classical guitarist and member of Parrish’s band, her both influences are apparent in her original and engaging sound.
Parrish’s charming personality shines brighter than the stage lights, drawing the audience in and holding them for the entire performance. She plays and sings with such passion that makes everyone in the room feel her music.
I had the honor of attending her performance this past Friday night at Puck, in Doylestown. The show was dedicated to the memory of her very talented brother, Corey Parrish. It was a heartfelt night and all who were in attendance could feel the love and passion in the performance. It was truly an amazing evening.
Parrish has four CD’s to her credit, several local and national television appearances, and is in heavy rotation on the radio and online. Here music is available online.
Krista Parrish is definitely an artist worth checking out. Click here for a live performance schedule. For more information on Krista Parrish go to kristaparrish.com.

January 26, 2008 -- Doylestown singer-songwriter Krista Parrish has been making waves on the local and national jazz circuit.

Her funky, soulful jazz draws comparison to such artists as Fiona Apple and Norah Jones. "The first time I ever heard Ella Fitzgerald. Something inside of me happened and I couldn't believe what I was hearing... I just wanted to sound like that," says Krista.

She is the byproduct of a musical household. Krista's father is a classical guitarist and her mother, an opera singer. Parrish's command of the guitar could easily steal the show, if her voice weren't equally as magnetic. So it's obvious that those early influences have been fused into her music, creating a sound uniquely her own.

Through our "Share your band" submission on 6abc.com, we received over 100 requests from her fans to do a feature. Tuned In taped Parrish at The Tin Angel in the Old City section of Philadelphia.

Krista Parrish - rising star of radio, stage screen & Internet


Krista Parrish seems poised to become an overnight sensation. And it's only taken her a dozen years of hard work to get there. That's about how long ago Parrish tried her hand at songwriting, penning an instrumental for the piano. Now, four CDs, countless local performances, numerous television appearances and Internet and local radio play later, Parrish is poised to take her career to the next level. The Bucks County native, who infuses jazz and blues with folk and funk, is set to release her latest album, "A Genuine Distraction," somewhere around Valentine's Day. Postponed from a mid-December release (Parrish will release "Half Myself," a five-song EP featuring tracks from "A Genuine Distraction," in December), Parrish insists that it will be well worth the wait. "I'm really excited for the new album," Parrish said enthusiastically. "In my heart, this collection of songs is probably my best work. I've had a lot of support and I've worked with some amazing musicians on it. It's really coming together. I'm just dying to release it. "I wanted to make an album that someone could put on and just melt into the music and it'd be a good distraction from everyday tedious life - just put it on and get lost in it. I can definitely feel that with this album and I hope that's how people feel when they listen to it." And while Parrish - who now writes for and plays primarily the guitar - has been playing many of the songs at her gigs, she's eagerly anticipating the opportunity for her fans to hear the songs performed by a full band. That chance will come Dec. 19, when Parrish's performance at the Tin Angel will be taped for 6ABC's "Tuned In," which features some of the top local recording artists and can be found online at www.6abc.com. "It's going to be a great opportunity to be able to promote the new album through the show," she said. "We've been playing songs off the album over the summer, but no one's heard it with the full band. I'm excited to share that with my fans and family." In the more immediate future, Parrish will open for The Band's Jim Weider Nov. 17 at Chaplin's: The Music Café in Spring City. It wouldn't hurt to check out Parrish, because chances are you'll be seeing and hearing her quite a bit in the near future.
Parrish recently signed a deal to have three songs played on an upcoming television series, "Kim and Seana," which is currently exclusive to the Internet but is expected to make its television debut in the summer. And if that show helps open even more doors for Parrish, all the better. "I'm really, really interested in getting into film and TV," she said. "I don't really see myself as this hardcore touring artist, so I'd definitely like to dabble in television and film." The exciting happenings in Parrish's professional life are matched on the personal level. She was married Oct. 14, and while she said the change in her life hasn't affected her music career, being in a serious relationship has had some effect on her writing.
"When you're younger and there's so many different changes, I was more inspired then, and writing a lot more then," she said. "The love song thing is not something I really touch on any more and I think that's because I'm very settled and content in my love life."
OK, so she doesn't quite fit the stereotype of the "tortured musician." But she's worked hard to get where she's at, both personally and professionally. And she knows that the opportunities that have been offered to her can disappear just as easily.
"A lot of things are finally coming together, and I'm so grateful for it," she said. "I've done a lot of praying. It's scary, because it could all be taken away just like that, so you've got to just take it one step at a time and just hope that things keep going in that direction."
But whether the future sees Parrish writing her "music for the mind" for the big screen or up on the stage, her music will always retain its broad range of influences.
"When I write music I don't think about, 'This is going to be a jazz song,' I just write by what I'm inspired by," she said. "I don't like to feel like I'm going to be pushed into some genre, I don't want to get bored. I'm trying to keep myself entertained as well. "And I want to grow. I don't want to keep making the same album over and over again."

EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE: SWEET SOLACE

"supple & soulful with a broad palette that is equally at home conveying sweet playfulness or smoky- timbered yearning or dusky introspection-it was her immersion in jazz that left the greatest impression."

This group of female singer songwriters can all definitely hold their own, but, since, they found each other this past winter, they've become a musical force and are about to wrap up their Ladies on the Edge performances next week. They were submitted by Linda Seybert, who's worked with Krista Parrish for some time now, who said: "these 5 women are the most amazing and diverse artists this area has ever produced." They've wowed live audiences from World Café Live in Center City to Puck in Doylestown, rocked Philly in print (Philly Edge) and with their appearances on NBC and ABC.

WOTW: How/When did you get started down this career path?

Krista: Both my parents are musicians so my brother and I followed in their footsteps as it came very naturally. I started playing guitar at age 14 and have never put it down. Songwriting began at 17 yrs. old and the rest is history.

WOTW: What do you like best about performing?

Krista: I'm in a position to help people, to reach people and I intend to use my career to bring awareness to larger issues and charity organizations I believe in. Plus, I get paid to do what I love; who could ask for anything more?

WOTW: Of what are you most proud?

Krista: I'm proud of my will to go on trying to make it in a very saturated industry.
WOTW: What, if any is your guilty pleasure?

Krista: Hmmm…I have many…but ice cream wins!

WOTW: What advice would you like to share with aspiring singer-songwriters?

Krista: Whatever you do, don't let someone tell you the world has enough singer songwriters, if you have a voice, sing and if you have a song, share it with others.

You can catch the last in a series of Ladies on the Edge performances Saturday, August 11th at Chaplin's, the Music Café in Spring City, PA

Krista Parrish, 27
Doylestown

CDs: Introspection is latest of four; Her 5th album is due out sometime this summer (2007) -"GENUINE DISTRACTION".

Style: SoCal jazzy riffs and scat; plays guitar like Ani D but sings with a sultry tone and extensive range much like Jonatha Brooke or Fiona Apple.

Other: Has own music lesson business and teaches at Paul Green School of Rock; plays with guitarist father and brother, mom sang opera, parents society band supported family; Bucks County Community College music program grad; To be wed in May 2008.

PE: Kindly inform what's on your iPod or CD player right now?
KP: The Shins, Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Ben Folds, Enya, John Mayer, Ella Fitzgerald and Kaki King

PE: Did you first begin singing at a church?
KP: I sang in church as a child. My first solo was in Second Grade at St. Ephrem's in Bensalem. I went on to sing many solos after that.
Though I do not sing in church anymore, I always sing for God.

PE: In parts, there's a jazzy component to your CD. Has that been an impediment or an advantage?
KP: Philly has a long and rich jazz tradition that continues to this day that is largely and sadly ignored, with the possible exception of European ears.
People take me more seriously as a musician, but there is a small market for jazz and that is why I incorporate other styles into my work. Sticking at one style has never been my thing. I get bored and need to change it up anyway.

PE:Are all 13 songs on INTROSPECTION pointed at any one specific individual? No need to name name's, just the relationship.
KP: The album was a story of a year and a half of my life... leaving one significant relationship, doing some serious soul searching, focusing on my music and me, becoming whole enough to give myself completely to someone else, realizing I'd found the person I will be with forever & dealing with family issues. It covered a lot and I put the songs in the order that things happened and focused on my inner feelings hence the title INTROSPECTION--it was just that for me. Most of the songs the I wrote were actually in a journal that had the word INTROSPECTION on the cover. It just made sense to me to use it for the album name.

PE: On 'Sure Good Find' you sing, "I used to be numb, now I feel everything" if you could expound on that a little...
KP:I wrote that song about my then boyfriend, now fiance. I used to get wrapped up in people that I couldn't trust. I built walls around me so that I wouldn't have to feel the frustration of a relationship gone wrong. I had finally found comfort and home in someone & I could let myself feel again. The funny thing is, I've written so many songs during the time I tried to numb myself and I guess they helped me through-there must have been some part of me that was allowing the pain in.

PE:Has WXPN been receptive? What track(s)? Which DJ(s)?
KP:I have gotten airplay on WXPN. Sleepyhollow has played WHERE ARE YOU NOW, BEST OF ME and MOMENT FOR YOU off of Introspection. They also played something off my first album but I cannot remember the name of that song! How horrible is that?

PE: What 3 CD's might your fans be surprised that you whole heartedly, thoroughly enjoy?
KP: Jack Black-Tenacious D, Tribe Called Quest-Beats, Ryhmes and Life +
The Dave Grisman Quartet-Dawganova

Shows:
Puck Live, Printer's Alley, Doylestown: March 23, 8 p.m

Milkboy, Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr: April 28th, 7:45PM

Tin Angel, 20 S Second St., Philadelphia: May 26, 8 p.m.

Musically astute, interesting, original, adventurous...and that doesn't even begin to venture into her incredible voice, and refined chops as a musician. She cross blends genres, and does so with such a subtle finesse. She is charming, saucy, and serious...with a twinge of comedic sarcasm that illuminates throughout her writing sensibilities. She has her own way of telling a story...and it is never banal. Parrish is an exciting artist, beautiful...and is as cool as the sounds she makes.

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