F E AT U R E S
HOMEGROWN
TALENT Drew Parker moved to Nashville five years ago to pursue his dream of country music superstardom. He has since co-written a No. 1 song with Jake Owen, appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and performed alongside some of the industry’s biggest names, including Luke Combs—a man with whom he will tour in 2021. by PATTY RASMUSSEN How does one go from high school graduate to co-writing the No. 1 country song in the United States in five years, from playing gigs in a small Georgia town to performing in the Ryman Auditorium at the Grand Ole Opry, from working part-time as a hospital X-ray technician to signing a songwriting deal and performing with some of the biggest names in Nashville? Drew Parker, a rising country music songwriter and performer, offers a simple answer. “For me, it’s work ethic,” he said. “You have to have the total desire to be passionate about country music and to write a song that relates to as many people as you can relate it to.” Along with the rest of America, 2020 has been quite a year for Parker. However, while everyone else was shutting down in late March thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was celebrating one of the most momentous weeks of his life. “Homemade,” a song co-written by Parker and performed by Jake Owen, went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart on March 22; and if that did not provide enough excitement, just two days later, Parker and his wife Mallory welcomed something else homemade when their daughter Harley Greer was born. “Yeah, what a week that was—the No. 1 song in the country and the No. 1 daughter,” he said. “I didn’t get a lot of songwriting done that week.” That was unusual for Parker because of his aforementioned work ethic. He is a daily writer and does not wait for the mood to strike. It is the culmination of a lot of ideas, time and something he is far too humble to mention: a truckload of talent.
6 The Newton