OKC House Concert -- Western Swing with The Goodnights!

Five Questions with Georgia Parker
 
            In anticipation of The Goodnights’ upcoming Oklahoma City house concert, we sat down with guitarist, vocalist, and all-around outstanding musician Georgia Parker.  We asked the Boerne, Texas native five questions about her experiences as a musician in general and with The Goodnights specifically.  And, about GWAR performing in Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom.    
           CP:  Who are some of your influences or mentors? 
           GP:  My biggest influences, and it sounds cliché, but Willie Nelson, but like Willie Nelson’s jazz records.  And Freddy Powers who wrote a lot of songs with Merle Haggard and played in his band and wrote a bunch of cool Texas swing tunes.  It’s like western swing but like songwriter and a whole other era of time.  And, then of course Cindy Walker, who wrote a ton of great songs for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. 
         CP:  What brought The Goodnights together?  How did you guys meet and connect? 
         GP:  Ooo, I actually wonder this.  So, Sophia [Johnson] and Katy Cox have a band called Tiger Alley.  So, they’re kind of like a musical duo, and they’re both friends of mine, and we both like – I play mostly swing.  They play a lot of western swing and also write cool songs and play rock and roll and country music and all kinds of music.  But, we all play bluegrass.  So, we play – sometimes we play, the three of us, bluegrass nights together, and then what happens we’re all secretly off the mic:  can we get away with playing a swing tune right now? 
          CP:  This is a goofy question, but what makes it fun for you guys? 
         GP:  I think that, well, I mean, we love the songs.  And, in some ways, it’s back to basics.  Like we’re doing songs that maybe we used to do when we first got into western swing or that we just wouldn’t normally do in our regular projects.  So, that’s fun.  And also working up all the parts.  But, I think what makes it fun for us is we’re all friends, and we don’t get to spend enough time together.  And, so now, we have a reasonable excuse to hang out, and we work well together.    
          CP:  Have you been to Cain’s Ballroom?
          GP:  I’ve been.  I haven’t seen a show there.  Yet. 
         CP:  Anything stand out about being in the ballroom and walking around there and knowing that, seventy, eighty years ago, [Bob Wills] was on the stage fiddling and doing the ah-hah? 
          GP:  Yeah.  It’s just incredible, an incredible chunk of history, and I love the photos on the wall.  And Brett, Brett Bingham, gave us a tour of Cain’s the last time I came through Oklahoma and that’s the only time I’ve ever been there.  So, it was closed, and we kind of got to run around the whole place and look at everything.  And, he knows so much about Oklahoma music history and Bob Wills and all that stuff.  He’s a great tour guide.  Something else I couldn’t not think about was a friend of mine told me he saw GWAR there?  So, I was just imagining seeing GWAR and like looking up at Cindy Walker and Bob Wills and everybody, their photos up on the wall.  It’s cool to me that like – I’d rather that be happening than for Cain’s to close down and then build a new venue for something like that.  I think it’s cool that this is a sacred space for music, and, if that’s the music you like, then yeah. Be inclusive. 
           The Goodnights, featuring Georgia Parker, Sophia Johnson, and Katy Rose Cox, play a house concert in Oklahoma City on Sunday, October 13.  For details, please contact [email protected].