Name: Clay Parker & Jodi James Duo
Start: 2024-09-27T19:30:00-07:00
Location: 330 E 7th St, Tucson, AZ, United States, Arizona 85705

Before their artistic paths converged in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in late 2014, Parker and James roamed the musical landscape as lone troubadours, each nurturing their own raw and genuine sound. Now, almost a decade after their first long-distance co-writing collaborations, the distinct sound of the duo has maintained a minimalist yet mercurial quality -- in part by reflecting the ways the artists themselves have changed both together and as individuals. They jokingly refer to themselves as "a band without a name," yet it is this designation of two separate identities that best describes their particular synergy; and the sweetest harmony resides in their ability to abide their own personalities while creating something entirely fresh that is continuously evolving. As noted by Wide Open Country, “It’s an example of two capable solo acts combining forces to discover new ways to celebrate regional roots sounds while creating something markedly modern." With James' country-soul reactiveness and Parker's blue and winding reflectiveness, the resulting sound is a blackout bingo card of Americana.
Clay Parker and Jodi James create worlds within their records by populating each song with points of view that are archetypical yet unique. With their third official release, Your Very Own Dream, the pair hone this technique to a razor’s edge. Even while having abandoned the traditional acoustic arrangements of their previous releases The Lonesomest Sound That Can Sound (2018) and their self-titled debut EP (2016), the concoction is equal parts plaintive folk existentialism, blue-note bluster, prairie-fire idealism, and fever-dream ballad. They have again delivered compelling songs that solicit repeated listens to decode -- the kind where everyone ciphers a separate conclusion and every supposition is correct. With Your Very Own Dream, Parker and James cast a spell with lyrical riddles distilled into poignant realism. The listener is invited to pull at the thread of each story told without the promise of finding a tidy bow when they get to the end. In Parker’s own words, “...a tune can be worth singing or a rhyme worth landing without linearity being a necessity." It's these puzzles -- these sleight-of-hand mysteries -- that have captivated audiences all across the country and even piqued the curiosity of Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna): “In a world where artistry would be predictably honored, Clay Parker and Jodi James would be right up there at the top of the list. I love everything about them…songs, music, harmony…everything.”