New Parry Lamont Album Review

Artist: Parry Lamont

Album: Parry Lamont

Released: 2025

Artist Website: https://parrylamont.com/home

Minnesota born Parry Lamont is an American gem. A songwriter that has the ability to paint a vivid musical picture in its simplest form, but filled with color and character. His relaxed smoky vocal delivery is as smooth as melting ice. The self-titled release is a 12 song set that clocks in at 45 minutes. When music is performed as well as this a single guitar and vocal is all that is needed to tell the story. Not just the story of the lyric but the soft touch of the music as well, which has its own sensitive personality. 

Track 1, The Way I Want It sets the pace for what is to come across the entirety of this heartfelt release. To quote a famous saying that is often applied to both blues and country music "Three chords and the truth"... That is what this beautiful piece of music brings to mind. It is remarkable how so many songs have the same structure, yet in the hands of a master like Parry Lamont can still be molded into something fresh and unique.

After a few listens to the album Go Home Handsome Molly is a standout track that cuts right to the soul before Parry even sings a note. A touch as delicate as his on the guitar is uncommon and does not go unnoticed for those who are really listening. There are so many great guitar players, but so few have the ability to emote the way Parry Lamont does. The warm vocal is the sweet icing on an already perfect cake. 

Everything But The Memories is a haunting track that tells the story of the song's character fall from grace, in what I sense is mental illness. A man of wealth that lost his wife and spun into homelessness. The man has lost everything, all but the memories of his previous life, before his wife passed. The lyric "Still recalls that final day, when he laid her body in the grave,and everything but the memories fades away" is quite compelling and forces the listener to take stock in what truly matters.  

Music hasn't changed much over the years, a few chords and some words. But occasionally someone like Parry comes along and puts it together in an uncommonly special way. It is his ability to tell a story that pulls the listener in both lyrically and musically. In a world filled with talented songwriters Parry Lamont is one that rises above the pack. His brand of relaxed maturity only comes from an artist that has spent years crafting their story. It is music performed by a mature man, meant for a mature audience that understands life has its difficulties. Parry Lamont reminds the listener that their troubles are not unique. That we all struggle to find happiness. Although the record is not a blues album in any way it reminds me of why folks listen to the blues. It isn't to be sad, but to find comfort in knowing that they're not alone in lost feelings. 

Check out the interview with Parry Lamont....

Tell us the brief history of your band or musical career.

I started playing guitar at a pretty young age and would occasionally perform at school events and small public outings.   I played a little in college, but it was only in small groups of friends.  After college I went into the service, and then the corporate world, and my guitar got put in its case and sat unplayed for the better part of 20+ years.   Around 2008, I had a change in my career, and it allowed me to have extra time on my hands.  I pulled out my guitar and started playing and singing again.    I started doing bar cover gigs with songs by all my favorite artists and then I found myself starting to write.   That began a transition to performing shows of all my own music.  When I started performing, I so under my given name Steve Parry until around 2103 when I started having extreme pain in my hands and fingertips.  I could barely play three chords before it was too much.   Surgeons thought it was related to prior neck surgery, so not wanting to undergo a second one I stopped playing again for about 5 years until a fluke meeting with a hand surgeon convinced me it was severe carpal tunnel in both hands.   Turns out he was right and after surgery I was playing again only to hit Covid.   During Covid I did a lot of writing, so when things normalized,  I was ready to go into the studio and record my second album, my first as Parry Lamont.   That leads me to the name change.   When I decided to come back after surgery, there were now about 4-5 musicians named Steve Parry, and Olympic swimmer with the same name plus all the web searches were being diverted to Steve Perry from Journey.  Rather than fight that battle, I decided to rebrand myself as Parry Lamont, my last & middle names.

Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

I have always been attracted to storytelling folk artists.    When I click with a song, it's usually one that starts a movie in my head that I can watch.   Artists like John Prine, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson etc. are all performers that hook me with their stories and as a result it’s the way I write and the way I want to interact with audiences.

Is there a particular song that has resonated with you for a long time?

I was at a turning point in my corporate career.   I was in planes more than at home with my family.   During one flight I had just sat down and put on my headsets when John Prine's Souvenirs came on and rocked my world.   I went home and made the decision to change the direction of my life.

What’s your favorite accomplishment as a musician thus far? 

I played a large private event on the Washington/Oregon border years ago.  I was singing a song I had written about a couple with grand dreams who move out west to chase them, but the wife dies at an early age.   As I looked down from the stage, I see a big burly firefighter with tears in his eyes, he had recently lost his wife, and on the other side of the stage a young woman/mother who had just survived a battle with cancer who also had tears in her eyes.   That experience really cemented for me the journey we can take an audience on when we as artists connect with them.

Tell me about your favorite performance in your career.

I was able to play a songwriter set at an amazing multi-day fest in Minnesota called Storyhill Fest.    It was held at a summer church camp on the side of the lake.  I was paired with a couple other songwriters that I admired, and we had a great show.   The thing that got me was the way the music felt and sounded surrounded by the old camp buildings and trees.   A similar experience was playing Anderson Fair in Houston, TX the venue where many of the artists I admire started out.   I distinctly remember my first sound check there.   The room was empty and it seemed like as I played the accumulated experience that had built up in those walls over the years started to fill into the notes I was playing and words I was singing.  It was very spiritual.

What's the best piece of advice another musician ever gave you?

When you play, play for yourself.  If you play for applause, money, fame or anything else once it is gone, you'll try and find another way to fill the void and it's usually not a healthy thing.

What's new in the recording of your music?

Rather than finding a studio and trying to self-produce, I found a studio and producer who was really in tune with what my musical values are and then he put together all the right parts to make it shine.

What inspires you to write the music you write? 

It's always thoughts that come to me late at night when I'm noodling around on my guitar.   I'll hit a certain chord progression, and a lyric will come out.   Then I think about what surrounds the words and why they just appeared.   I find it exceedingly difficult to write from a title.   I need to have a movie running in my head that I can watch as I write.  It helps me keep my story focused.

What made you want to play the instrument you play? 

I just loved the sound of the acoustic guitar.   

How does your latest album differ from any of your others in the past? 

Great question!   I left most of my first album The Fight Left in Me/Steve Parry up to my producer Chris Cunningham from the duo Storyhill.   The only thing I said is I wanted any instruments on the album to be ones you could carry to a campfire.    When I started working on my new self-titled release Parry Lamont, I went to Steve Kaul at Wild Sound Recording Studio in Minneapolis.   I had sent him demos of all the songs, and we spent a day testing multiple mic combinations for my vocals and guitar.   Afterwards we were talking about all the other instruments and vocals I wanted to add and he said "man, I see this as a more stripped-down album like the Cash Sessions with Rick Rubin."   At first I was thinking "no way," but on my way home it occurred to me he was absolutely right.  The music on this album could stand alone and the only reason I wanted all the backing stuff was because I somehow felt insecure and it was a way for me to hide.   He was right and I think the album turned out exactly as it should.

If you could play anywhere or with anyone in the world, where or with who would it be?

To say who would be an exceptionally lengthy list because it includes artist, like Guy Clark & John Prine, as well as  some performers who only play one or two shows a year in local bars.  I can say that I'd love to play Red Rocks and have a desire to play in every single old historical opera house/theater in the US.  The more rural the building, the better.

If you could change anything about the music industry today, what would it be?

It's hard to say.   I'm not at a level where I see much of what goes on, and I still manage myself.    I do think that streaming has really hurt incomes.   There was a time not so long ago I could sell a lot of CDs at shows, as well as other merch.   It helped to make touring financially feasible.  Now with streaming, that $10-15 per CD you could make selling to a crowd of 30-50+ people has pretty much dried up.  They can hear your work pretty much for free now.

What are your biggest obstacles as a musician?

The number of venues to play post Covid.

What do you think the best aspects of the music business are?

The creativity it draws out of you and the creative people it allows you to surround yourself with everyday.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

It normally takes place at night when the world is quiet.   I pick up my guitar and start strumming or picking until some words just come out.   I have a recorder running so I don't have to try to remember anything.    Once that starts then its just trying to figure out why those words came out and what story those words are trying to tell.

Other than being a musician, what was your dream job growing up? 

Well... I had a long corporate career so it would be easier to say what I did that I did not like...

What is your favorite piece of gear and why?

I had the great fortune to meet Jim Olson (Olson Guitars) who is an amazing luthier and makes guitars for James Taylor, among others.   He introduced me to another Minnesota based luthier Alan Fuller (Fuller Guitars) and I recently purchased one of his instruments.   I can't set the thing down.  The sound & vibrations I get back from it are spiritual.    That said, I still love my Gibson Advanced Jumbo that has been with me for almost 20 years.