Parker Barrow

By: Lori Smerilson Carson

Spawned out of love, passion and a combined goal, Parker Barrow built themselves into the powerhouse rock band that they are today. Starting with their meeting, that is Lead Vocalist Megan Kane and Drummer Dylan Turner, they worked to create their extraordinary sound, married, have been touring, and then released their debut album JUKEBOX GYPSIES in 2023. Now, they have a new record HOLD THE MASH and have embarked on a tour that Floridians can experience starting at Terra Fermata in Stuart on November 5^th, Buckingham Blues Bar in Fort Myers on November 6^th, New World Brewery in Tampa on November 7^th, The Alley in Sanford on November 8^th, Heartwood Soundstage in Gainesville on November 10^th, and The Albatross in Jacksonville on November 11^th.

Catching up with Kane, she revealed some details about the show that she and Turner along with bandmates Guitarist/Musical Director Alex Bender, Guitarist Will Tipton, Bassist Kyle Priber, and Keyboardist Eric Safka will be performing, a bit about their music, past experiences, and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: Parker Barrow is playing several dates in Florida. What can fans look forward to with the new show?

Megan Kane: What I would say to expect is just a lot of energy. We are a rock and roll band and we like to approach our shows that way. So, really just a lot of fun. That’s really our main goal at the end of the day is just that people come to our show and they leave feeling like they had a great time and got all the energy and got to experience that exchange with us as well. So, really that’s it! It’s just a lot of energy, a good time, and hopefully some songs that will be stuck in your head by the end of the show (she laughed).

SFL Music Magazine: Like your song with video “Nothin’ Left To Save” which is awesome!

Kane: Thank you.

SFL Music Magazine: You’re welcome. I thought your amazing voice reminded me a little of Dale Krantz from Rossington Collins Band.

Kane: I’ve actually gotten that a lot.

SFL Music Magazine: What would you say inspired that song?

Kane: My husband, our drummer and our guitar player are the ones who wrote that song, but really that was the song that was the last one we recorded for this record and really it came from a place of just wanting that high energy, southern rock and blues sound where you get the big chorus and just have those rock elements included into this album. So, it really felt like the perfect song to top off the record, and it was really just inspired by rock and roll true to the bone.

SFL Music Magazine: What would you say inspired the new record HOLD THE MASH (released this past July)?

Kane: I think for this new record coming off our last one we included our full-time member and now musical director Alex Bender. It was inspired by just the experience off of the road and getting to have that comradery with each other in the bus, at the shows, and all the experiences we’ve had over the past three years since we released JUKEBOX GYPSIES. So, it was just really a culmination of all the things we have experienced together as a band and the songs that came from that. A lot of hope, a lot of just life that we’ve experienced. So, I really think that’s where this album comes from. It’s just everything. All the new places we’ve gotten to visit.  It’s just really a culmination of everything we’ve experienced.

SFL Music Magazine: Is that what attributes to your music when you’re writing?

Kane: We definitely write from a place of what we’re living at the moment. My husband does a lot of the lyrics, so while he’s driving or just when things happen and when inspiration strikes, he’s able to write those words into feelings. Our guitar player Alex, he does a great job with coming up with so many compositions of new sounds and music, and not being afraid to try something new and try and get our life out into words, so where maybe other people can relate to those things.

SFL Music Magazine: You and Dylan met in Nashville. I read in the bio, great story how the name Parker Barrow came from American folklore, from Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Explain to our readers how this all came about?

Kane: Dyl and I, we met back in 2019 and about two weeks after we met, we hopped on the road and started touring together. It was really around the time we wanted to release original music that we felt the need to really find a name that fit the band and fit our story. It was during COVID and we got really into a lot of documentaries and binge watching, stuff like that, and we came across a lot of Bonnie and Clyde documentaries and movies and stuff. So, really, we felt kindred to them. Not necessarily in the crime aspect, but in the love aspect of it that they were sharing this crazy life together on the run, always together. They experienced every moment together and that’s really what we felt kindred to, and just our story. Since we met, I think we’ve spent like fifteen days apart, but we always say we’re not running from something, we’re running to something and that’s to our dreams and not crime. We’re not fighting any crime out there. It’s all the rock and roll dream.

SFL Music Magazine: You started singing in a church choir at age ten? What prompted you to get into music?

Kane: I feel very blessed to at a very young age find my passion, and really from the time I started singing which was around nine or ten years old in our church leading some worship and doing that, I just felt called to do it from the time I started. From then on, I learned to play guitar, started writing songs, moved to Nashville. I just knew from the moment I picked up a guitar and started writing that it’s exactly what I wanted to do and I was going to make it happen one way or another (she laughed). So, I kind of took that leap of faith and moved to Nashville when I was twenty years old and haven’t looked back.

SFL Music Magazine: I also read where Dylan called you to come out and tour with him. He was influenced by his father who owned a coffee shop?

Kane: Yeah, his dad was in a band, and he played a lot of music. He owned a coffee shop back when Dyl was young. So, Dyl was around it for his whole entire life. He was always exposed to music. So, that was pretty much right off the bat an interest or a passion for him. We realized we shared that same exact passion when we met each other and knew we could make it work out there on the road together.

SFL Music Magazine: He started playing at age four?

Kane: Yeah!

SFL Music Magazine: Are you looking forward to anything in particular when you come to Florida?

Kane: I have a pretty big family, and a lot of my family is from the Tampa/Clearwater area, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing my Aunt Sherry and Uncle Harry and my Aunt Madeline and a lot of my family that lives out there. So, that is one of my favorite things about Florida and I’m very excited that we will get to see them again because we don’t get to see them very often. That is a special place in my heart.

SFL Music Magazine: Are there any more videos that will be coming out?

Kane: The album is out. We have some music videos that have been along with the album, so if you haven’t seen those, be sure to check those out. We have a song called “Blinded” that also has a music video out that we were really excited to shoot and excited to get out there. Really, just check out all the music and try to learn the words by the time you make it to the show!

SFL Music Magazine: They have homework, right?

Kane: They have homework (she laughed)!

SFL Music Magazine: What inspired “Blinded”?

Kane: That song was actually inspired by a bible verse. (She asked Turner to confirm) Mathew 6:33 19-22.  We’re very strong in our faith. We don’t hide that from our music. That song is really just about not treasuring the earthy worldly things and really seeking the kingdom, and turning our face from the things that this world will convince you are as valuable and really at the end of the day, it’s not. So, that’s really where our hearts are filled. Our faith is strong and we believe that. So, that’s really where that song came from.

SFL Music Magazine: Was there anything else fans can look forward to?

Kane: Yeah, we just love to meet everybody. So, if you come to the show, be sure you stop by the merch booth, say hi. Even if you don’t buy anything, that’s fine, but definitely just say hi. After the shows are over, we come out and we like to meet everybody who’s there. We’re down for any conversation at any time.