August 26, 2025 • 22 mins
TrulySignificant.com presents Austin Stars featuring Erin Walter of the Parker Woodland.
Music often carries a purpose beyond entertainment. Through band founder of Parker Woodland Erin Walter, learn about the heart of the band, staying attuned to the community.
Sharing a musical experiences with the audience is what fuels Parker Woodland.
Hear about the collaboration of songwriting within the team with Andrew, Kari and Erin.
And enjoy the story behind the bombastic performance of Erin and her leaping into the audience.
Visit www.parkerwoodland.com
Next Parker Woodland shows in Austin, TX:
- Friday, Aug. 29 at 29th St Ballroom w/ Slowreader
- Sunday, Aug. 31 at 29th St Ballroom for Louder Than Hate benefit for Equality Texas
- Saturday, Sept. 6 at Empire Control Room w/ Emily Wolfe benefiting Queer Liberation Network (also Erin's b-day show, tour kickoff and the 1-year anniversary of our debut album There's No Such Thing as Time)
- Friday, Sept. 19 at Meanwhile Brewing for Joan Jett B-day Party tribute show
- Saturday, Sept. 20 at The Belmont (Sonic Guild showcase -- members and Parker Woodland Patreon member guests only)
- Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Continental Club, 6:30pm happy hour homecoming from tour + Parker Woodland single release party!
Next Parker Woodland road shows:
- Sept 11 - Ft. Worth, TX, The Cicada
- Sept 12. - Hot Spring, AR, Maxine's
- Sept. 13 - Kansas City, Hillside Lounge
- Sept. 14 - Lawrence, KS, Replay Lounge
- Sept. 26 - New Orleans, Santos
- Sept. 27. - Lafayette, LA, Loose Caboose
- Sept 28 - Houston, Shoeshine Charlie's Big Top Lounge at Continental Club Houston
More info at:
https://parkerwoodland.com
instagram.com/parkerwoodlandband
facebook.com/parkerwoodland
parkerwoodland.bandcamp.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
Music often carries a purpose beyond entertainment. Through band founder of Parker Woodland Erin Walter, learn about the heart of the band, staying attuned to the community.
Sharing a musical experiences with the audience is what fuels Parker Woodland.
Hear about the collaboration of songwriting within the team with Andrew, Kari and Erin.
And enjoy the story behind the bombastic performance of Erin and her leaping into the audience.
Visit www.parkerwoodland.com
Next Parker Woodland shows in Austin, TX:
- Friday, Aug. 29 at 29th St Ballroom w/ Slowreader
- Sunday, Aug. 31 at 29th St Ballroom for Louder Than Hate benefit for Equality Texas
- Saturday, Sept. 6 at Empire Control Room w/ Emily Wolfe benefiting Queer Liberation Network (also Erin's b-day show, tour kickoff and the 1-year anniversary of our debut album There's No Such Thing as Time)
- Friday, Sept. 19 at Meanwhile Brewing for Joan Jett B-day Party tribute show
- Saturday, Sept. 20 at The Belmont (Sonic Guild showcase -- members and Parker Woodland Patreon member guests only)
- Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Continental Club, 6:30pm happy hour homecoming from tour + Parker Woodland single release party!
Next Parker Woodland road shows:
- Sept 11 - Ft. Worth, TX, The Cicada
- Sept 12. - Hot Spring, AR, Maxine's
- Sept. 13 - Kansas City, Hillside Lounge
- Sept. 14 - Lawrence, KS, Replay Lounge
- Sept. 26 - New Orleans, Santos
- Sept. 27. - Lafayette, LA, Loose Caboose
- Sept 28 - Houston, Shoeshine Charlie's Big Top Lounge at Continental Club Houston
More info at:
https://parkerwoodland.com
instagram.com/parkerwoodlandband
facebook.com/parkerwoodland
parkerwoodland.bandcamp.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/success-made-to-last-legends--4302039/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is our special Austin Stars show. And we were
at a benefit I believe it's called the Sonic Guild
and we met this I would say bombastic singer, lead
singer for a band. She swings by, Brandon introduces us
and lo and behold, it's Aaron Walter of the Parker
(00:34):
Woodland Music a band, and it is so great to
have you on today. We've been listening to your music
all morning. What a treat to have you on.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you Happy to be here to tell.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Our audience about your musical journey.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, it would be my pleasure. That's my favorite thing
to talk about and be about. So Parker Woodland is
my first band where I'm the lead singer and the
bass player and songwriter. I grew up playing classical upright
bass from like age twelve through college, and I remember
coming home from from college. I went to Northwestern near Chicago,
(01:13):
and I'm a native Austinite, so I came home to
Austin and I was driving my giant upright base around
in my Jetta trying to, you know, do like chamber
classical music stuff during the day, and then at night
I would go to Emo's and I would see all
my favorite punk and indie rock bands. And then it
finally dawned on me as I started to see more
women up there. You know, it takes a little while
you need to see yourself represented. But when I finally
(01:36):
saw some female bass players, I thought, wait a minute,
that electric bass is what I played, just a little different.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, I could play the music that I love.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So I've been playing bass and bands, you know, my
whole adult life. But Parker Woodland is my dream come
true to be singing and fronting and writing and expressing myself.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's it's just my god.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Over my own zone. And we want to go out
and see you perform live. Obviously, there is a one
of the things that we have seen in you is
it looks like purpose beyond entertainment, if that makes sense.
And I want I want you to answer this, what
(02:15):
message or feeling do you want your audience to take
away from the Parker Woodland music.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, that means so much to me for you to
have picked up on that right away, That's absolutely it.
Andrew my creative partner, the guitar player, and I don't
know get co co everything with me and with Carrie,
our drummer, but We had an acoustics show yesterday at
the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Wildflower in South Austin, and we
(02:45):
were we just played six of our songs acoustic for
twenty minutes and people just listened intently and journaled, and
the theme of.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The service was justice.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
And so you know, the purpose for me is to
experts us both the just unbridled joy of being alive
and facing the hard things in the world and really
naming them and saying that it's our job to tend
to the struggles as well, not to turn away from them.
So we try to represent both of that our in
(03:17):
our music, which is why our theme song is the
World's on Fire and.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
We still fall in love. You know, the challenge of
holding both And I.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Think truly that it's so weird that you say this.
I mean, we had cooked up all these questions for you,
believe it or not. The second one was how do
you balance being musicians and storytellers with being voices for
something larger than yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm a Unitarian Universalist justice minister in my day job,
and everything that has to do with like the civil
rights movement and movements for human rights. Music is a
part of that you know, you think about the songs
that people sing in the streets or in the National
Mall or any of that. So I'm grateful that I
can ter what I consider like a tapestry of my work. Right,
(04:02):
the music is not separate from the advocate side of
my life. They both nourish each other, and so like
songs like Makeup or the Reckoning come from experiences that
I've had out in the world as an advocate, and
then the music comes back and shows up in those
spaces too. So that's that's been one of the most
(04:23):
rewarding things of the last ten years, is being able
to just like see all the threads of life we've too.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, it's too cool. So how do you know when
an adia is worth turning into a full song?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What a great question to You're just wow, you are
really good at this. You know, I keep lots of notes.
One of my aspirations is to.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Organize my notes better.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And I've got, you know, all the journals, all the
notes and email and phone apps and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But I mean, one of the ways, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Think, is by the fact that Parker Woodland really is
a band.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So the three.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of us, yes, talk about what we want to write about.
We you know, they I founded the band, but when
Andrew and Carrie came into it, we really took off.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And so just having these partners to.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Bounce ideas off of really is a big deal. And
Andrew and I have been working on writing the lyrics
and music for the second album right now, and then
like when things are shaped up enough, we bring him
to Carrie and then we see what it sparks in her.
So I think that collaboration piece is really big. But
also just like staying attuned, like community is really important
(05:33):
to me. So for all the terrible things of social media,
the good thing is like staying attuned to people and
what's on their hearts and minds or what people are
struggling with. And so also just kind of trying to
like stay tapped in or open to what I think
the community is yearning to hear or feel right on.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Why is the audience the hero to you?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
We always say in Parker Woodland that we want to
create this shared musical experience, and there's there's it's a
beautiful thing when Andrew and I are writing together or
the three of us are playing, but there's nothing like
sharing the experience with the whole room, and especially now
you know, we're starting to play bigger shows, like we
(06:20):
played the Long Center drop in, so you know, there's
like two thousand people there, or we're playing we're opening
for bigger acts. We've we're doing a benefit with Emily Wolf,
We're playing the after party for the Okay Go Show November,
things like that, and so getting to share our messages
and our music with new people that we don't know
at all, you know, it's like a big next level
(06:42):
that I'm really enjoying seeing what sparks for new communities.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
That's a great thing. It's isn't it a matter of
perspective as you go out to perform a song that
it's really about this significance of the gift you're giving
back to the audience.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It just the gift feels mutual to me, and the
gift feels like the fact that Andrew and Carry and
I get to express our friendship and our shared commitment
to this expression and the music together. I think that
(07:25):
a lot of times what people love most in live
music is getting to be present to the chemistry of
the people on stage. And so for me, it's an
interesting balance as a front person to both tap into
the relationships and chemistry on stage and then the chemistry
that we have with the audience. Like one of my
favorite parts in our shows is to jump out into
the like put my bass down, jump out into the crowd.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We do a song, couple, lase on.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
My back and just like jump around and get everybody
to sing and like just get into the crowd with me.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So is it.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I don't know if that answers your question exactly, but
that is something that I'm really like paying attention to
and interested in, is the different angles and.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Vectors of chemistry.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Somebody along the way affected you, mentored you, or did
something to you. Because Brandon says, before he even introduces
me to you, he says, hey, Aaron is the only
person I've ever known who who came up to me
and talked about staging blocking da da da da da.
And because she comes out and she flings herself on
(08:26):
the stage and she's on her back playing bass, and
I'm going I got to meet her, just Macon. But something,
somebody Aaron along the way must have planted that seed
in you that you think bigger beyond the performance and
the logistics and the blocking and all that. Who was
that person, Well, there's a few people.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
The first piece before any of that is.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
The empowerment to believe that me rolling around on stage,
crawling around on stage, getting out in the audio, or
what Brandon and I did together, which was like invite
twenty people to run up on stage during our closing
song at the Sonut Guild ball and like dance with us,
which was incredible to believe that you can do that
and have permission to do that. And it's that it
(09:15):
means something for people to see that like physical embodiment
of liberation. Like that's what I want as a woman
is for people to watch me perform and be like, oh,
like I could be that liberated too, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So that's like the flip.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Side is I want to be that person for someone else,
the people that have been that for me. Number One
Girls Rock Camp. Girls Rock Camp is a nonprofit that
empowers girls, women, non binary.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Trans people in music.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And that was huge for me since I, like I said,
I didn't grow up seeing women. It was like you
had Madonna and Cindy Lapper is how it felt, and
Whitney Houston, you know that were so far removed from
what was possible. It felt like, you know, I needed
to see people more like close to home. So like
girl Girls Rock Camp did that for me. And then
(10:06):
Meg Barnhouse, who's a U minister and folk singer, was
the first female minister I saw.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It was a guitar and the pulpit. That was huge
for me.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And then again I just keep coming back to this,
but Andrew, my partner in this band, he has always
been saying, like, you know, we want this to be
like more theatrical, like what can we do? And and
so like together just continuing to like push the visual
element of the show has been huge and and there's
(10:35):
just so many like you can never credit one person,
but Sonic Guilt Rick. When we did this Sonic Guilt Ball,
that was the first show that we did in a
big theater where they because we're used to playing like
punk clubs and like all this stuff, which is great,
I'll take it. I love it, but playing this big,
long center and they asked us about our lighting choices
and everything and that was our We were like, hmmm,
(10:58):
so so.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
It helped does it?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Vision where we are now this year, which is a
much more like visual as well as audio experience. So
I'm thankful to everybody. It's like everybody influences me. I'm
just trying to stay tapped.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
In that case.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
A preview of your Grammy acceptance.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Hey kne dream Big. I love that. Thank you for
joining me.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Commercial break, We will be back with Aaron Walter of
the Parker Woodland Band.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This is Marcus Aurelius reappearing to proclaim that truly Significant
Conversations with big hearted people is a rare piece of literature.
This book reminds me of one of my more stirring quotes,
waste no more time arguing what a good.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Man should be be one. If you're stepping into your
next life chapter of your career and questioning what lies
beyond success, this book is for you.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Dive into forty soul stirring stories from luminaries like doctor
Jane Goodall, Ed Asner, and Emily Chang, stories that urge
you to pursue purpose, serve others, and build a legacy
that outlasts you. Authored by Rick TOLKINI, Truly Significant will
(12:30):
challenge your view of success and ignite a life of impact.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Order now at TinyURL dot com backslash Truly Significant and
begin living intentionally. Maybe your epitaph will.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Read she gave outrageously extended grace unceasingly and lived to
help others, so that death found her empty.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Significant dot com and celebrate the most truly significant people
in your life with the truly significant community. How bold
of you to make your next chapter matter and be
truly significant?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And we're back. We've got a few more questions for
the one and only Aaron Walter of the Parker Woodland Band.
And you see your performances more as a shared experience
with the audience rather than a one way performance.
Speaker 9 (13:32):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Tell me about a memorable reaction from a fan who
connected deeply with your music.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Well, i'll tell you the most recent one. One of
the radio shows that has been so supportive of us
is Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, which is a
show on KTX that's celebrating its twentieth anniversary and it's
all over the country, but KTX is the home station
and we love that show, and so for their twentieth anniversary,
(14:02):
they've been asking listeners to write in or call in
or whatever and talk about it. And this mom from Massachusetts,
I think, shared about how we were her son's favorite
band that they discovered through the show. It got them
through this like these long drives and who's like four,
you know, I think he's eight now, but she sent
(14:23):
a video of him dancing on Christmas morning when he
got his first like CD player or something, and you know,
we're like the first.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Music it it's.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It was the most adorable body I've ever seen, So
that meant a lot to me. And then also when
we have people come up to us sort of crying,
it's often women about We've got a song called Stranger
that's about grief and how it changes you, and I
often get really emotional reactions from people about that, and
(14:54):
I appreciate that because I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Through my own grief that that song expresses. And so yeah, those.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Are from the really joyful ones like a little kid
dancing to the very emotional ones like every connection.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Very meaningful. Where do you see the Park or Woodland
music going in the next few years as far as
new directions, collaborations, or even laboratory experiments on stage.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Oh well, we do have a stylist that we're working
with and lighting designer, so I am excited about for
people to I always say to people if you haven't
seen Parker Woodland recently, you haven't seen Parker Woodland because
we're always like pushing ourselves to grow and evolve the show.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So I'm excited for the live stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Musically, I'm we are evolving that right now. I'd see
us leaning more into psych. We've been very songwriter driven,
so even with like serious rock guitars and like pummeling drums,
there's still this like songwriter and pop sensibility of the songs,
and I think that'll still be there, but we're going
(16:04):
to lean into stretching the arrangements out a little bit more,
getting getting a groove going that people can really sync into.
We're considering, like, is there an instrumental song that we
want to write. We're also very into concept albums, so
we've been this new album that we're writing. We have
a story that we're hoping to tell, so we're seeing
(16:24):
where that story takes us. Sometimes the characters take over
and they do, so I can't exactly promise where the
characters are taking us yet, but it's a fun, really
funny act.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
To use the word character is a plus. That's one
of your unique selling propositions. Final question for you girl,
I feel like I've made a good friend in you.
So I'm going to ask you a deeper question. The
world's on fire, please do and we still fall in love?
(16:54):
What is the word still STI double L mean to
you today?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
So for me, there's this spiritual practice of staying in it,
and that means staying in relationship, staying in the work
of justice, staying in the commitment to music when people
when it gets hard, because it's hard work, people don't
see ninety eight percent of the work that Andrew, Carey
(17:24):
and I put in every day into this band like it.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Is our part and soul.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So still still is that commitment that no matter how
hard and on fire the world gets, we will put
love and art and beauty at the center of our
lives and we will share it no matter.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
What fantastic It was so good to have you on
Aaron and tell our listeners where they can follow you,
Carrie Andrew and see you in person.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Thank you well.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Our website is Parker Woodland dot com and even though
our socials are at Parker Woodland Band, so like Instagram
and Facebook, it's just Parker Woodland for the name of
the band. So parkerwooland dot com and we are embarking
on a tour, so we have a bunch of shows
coming up both in Austin and around Midwest Southeast. If
(18:20):
you're in Austin, we'd love to see you for Ham
Day for our Sonicild showcase on September twentieth, My birthday
show and our one year anniversary is September sixth at
m Park Control Room. There is gonna be so much
fun going. Oh and then one more shout up. The
homecoming show from tour and our single release show will
be a happy Hour show Tuesday, September THIRTIETHT at Continental Club.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's gonna be our first time to play Continental and that's,
you know, such a great venue.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Clubs want to come to you. Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yeah, and listen when you come to a show, come
and tell me that you're because you've heard about it.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Pot on Austin Star.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Thank you so much for being on and we are
going to play the World's on Fire in its entirety
now for you folks. But I also want you to
go on YouTube and watch it because you'll get to
see pancakes made When when she Aaron or someone else
was a kid, and it was so nostalgic I almost
stopped to get up to eat a second breakfast. It
(19:25):
was so good anyway, Great job, Erin, Thank you so
much for being on our show today. See you soon,
and folks, as we say, we wish you great success,
but pay attention to the road to significance. Have a
great week.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Hope with that truth, can't.
Speaker 9 (20:02):
I get juke orse?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
They tell you what you're fat if you trust.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That's one thing I know.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's this I felt, says due contest. The last thing
I'll ever kill is.
Speaker 9 (20:17):
About World's on fire. Step fall love, World's on fire,
will step all love.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
World's on fire.
Speaker 9 (20:27):
We're not giving out No, no, I could let you
go saying it's no, we're f a all. I can
give up the phoning.
Speaker 10 (20:37):
No once they said, having hope than even.
Speaker 9 (20:43):
Though everything's wrong, it shows I still love at you In,
and I.
Speaker 10 (20:49):
Know one thing could be perfect.
Speaker 9 (20:56):
Well's on fire, step all, World's on fire, still botta bah,
World's on fire.
Speaker 10 (21:03):
We're not giving up No, No, don't want to do I.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Catch myself one to believe it.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I think I could take a risk this time hard
to mill the fall home not. She can't feel like
a joke horse.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They tell you what's your fault if you try.
Speaker 9 (21:44):
Bow fire stealth? Bottom up world a fire? Still bottom
up World's on fire. We're not getting up. No, No,
world's on fire, steal bottom up World's on fire.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Still Father bout brows on fire?
Speaker 9 (22:02):
Still father about worlds on fire? Don't father though,
This is our special Austin Stars show. And we were
at a benefit I believe it's called the Sonic Guild
and we met this I would say bombastic singer, lead
singer for a band. She swings by, Brandon introduces us
and lo and behold, it's Aaron Walter of the Parker
(00:34):
Woodland Music a band, and it is so great to
have you on today. We've been listening to your music
all morning. What a treat to have you on.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you Happy to be here to tell.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Our audience about your musical journey.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, it would be my pleasure. That's my favorite thing
to talk about and be about. So Parker Woodland is
my first band where I'm the lead singer and the
bass player and songwriter. I grew up playing classical upright
bass from like age twelve through college, and I remember
coming home from from college. I went to Northwestern near Chicago,
(01:13):
and I'm a native Austinite, so I came home to
Austin and I was driving my giant upright base around
in my Jetta trying to, you know, do like chamber
classical music stuff during the day, and then at night
I would go to Emo's and I would see all
my favorite punk and indie rock bands. And then it
finally dawned on me as I started to see more
women up there. You know, it takes a little while
you need to see yourself represented. But when I finally
(01:36):
saw some female bass players, I thought, wait a minute,
that electric bass is what I played, just a little different.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You know, I could play the music that I love.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So I've been playing bass and bands, you know, my
whole adult life. But Parker Woodland is my dream come
true to be singing and fronting and writing and expressing myself.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's it's just my god.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Over my own zone. And we want to go out
and see you perform live. Obviously, there is a one
of the things that we have seen in you is
it looks like purpose beyond entertainment, if that makes sense.
And I want I want you to answer this, what
(02:15):
message or feeling do you want your audience to take
away from the Parker Woodland music.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, that means so much to me for you to
have picked up on that right away, That's absolutely it.
Andrew my creative partner, the guitar player, and I don't
know get co co everything with me and with Carrie,
our drummer, but We had an acoustics show yesterday at
the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Wildflower in South Austin, and we
(02:45):
were we just played six of our songs acoustic for
twenty minutes and people just listened intently and journaled, and
the theme of.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The service was justice.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
And so you know, the purpose for me is to
experts us both the just unbridled joy of being alive
and facing the hard things in the world and really
naming them and saying that it's our job to tend
to the struggles as well, not to turn away from them.
So we try to represent both of that our in
(03:17):
our music, which is why our theme song is the
World's on Fire and.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
We still fall in love. You know, the challenge of
holding both And I.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Think truly that it's so weird that you say this.
I mean, we had cooked up all these questions for you,
believe it or not. The second one was how do
you balance being musicians and storytellers with being voices for
something larger than yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm a Unitarian Universalist justice minister in my day job,
and everything that has to do with like the civil
rights movement and movements for human rights. Music is a
part of that you know, you think about the songs
that people sing in the streets or in the National
Mall or any of that. So I'm grateful that I
can ter what I consider like a tapestry of my work. Right,
(04:02):
the music is not separate from the advocate side of
my life. They both nourish each other, and so like
songs like Makeup or the Reckoning come from experiences that
I've had out in the world as an advocate, and
then the music comes back and shows up in those
spaces too. So that's that's been one of the most
(04:23):
rewarding things of the last ten years, is being able
to just like see all the threads of life we've too.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, it's too cool. So how do you know when
an adia is worth turning into a full song?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What a great question to You're just wow, you are
really good at this. You know, I keep lots of notes.
One of my aspirations is to.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Organize my notes better.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And I've got, you know, all the journals, all the
notes and email and phone apps and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But I mean, one of the ways, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Think, is by the fact that Parker Woodland really is
a band.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So the three.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of us, yes, talk about what we want to write about.
We you know, they I founded the band, but when
Andrew and Carrie came into it, we really took off.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And so just having these partners to.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Bounce ideas off of really is a big deal. And
Andrew and I have been working on writing the lyrics
and music for the second album right now, and then
like when things are shaped up enough, we bring him
to Carrie and then we see what it sparks in her.
So I think that collaboration piece is really big. But
also just like staying attuned, like community is really important
(05:33):
to me. So for all the terrible things of social media,
the good thing is like staying attuned to people and
what's on their hearts and minds or what people are
struggling with. And so also just kind of trying to
like stay tapped in or open to what I think
the community is yearning to hear or feel right on.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Why is the audience the hero to you?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
We always say in Parker Woodland that we want to
create this shared musical experience, and there's there's it's a
beautiful thing when Andrew and I are writing together or
the three of us are playing, but there's nothing like
sharing the experience with the whole room, and especially now
you know, we're starting to play bigger shows, like we
(06:20):
played the Long Center drop in, so you know, there's
like two thousand people there, or we're playing we're opening
for bigger acts. We've we're doing a benefit with Emily Wolf,
We're playing the after party for the Okay Go Show November,
things like that, and so getting to share our messages
and our music with new people that we don't know
at all, you know, it's like a big next level
(06:42):
that I'm really enjoying seeing what sparks for new communities.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
That's a great thing. It's isn't it a matter of
perspective as you go out to perform a song that
it's really about this significance of the gift you're giving
back to the audience.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It just the gift feels mutual to me, and the
gift feels like the fact that Andrew and Carry and
I get to express our friendship and our shared commitment
to this expression and the music together. I think that
(07:25):
a lot of times what people love most in live
music is getting to be present to the chemistry of
the people on stage. And so for me, it's an
interesting balance as a front person to both tap into
the relationships and chemistry on stage and then the chemistry
that we have with the audience. Like one of my
favorite parts in our shows is to jump out into
the like put my bass down, jump out into the crowd.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We do a song, couple, lase on.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
My back and just like jump around and get everybody
to sing and like just get into the crowd with me.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So is it.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I don't know if that answers your question exactly, but
that is something that I'm really like paying attention to
and interested in, is the different angles and.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Vectors of chemistry.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Somebody along the way affected you, mentored you, or did
something to you. Because Brandon says, before he even introduces
me to you, he says, hey, Aaron is the only
person I've ever known who who came up to me
and talked about staging blocking da da da da da.
And because she comes out and she flings herself on
(08:26):
the stage and she's on her back playing bass, and
I'm going I got to meet her, just Macon. But something,
somebody Aaron along the way must have planted that seed
in you that you think bigger beyond the performance and
the logistics and the blocking and all that. Who was
that person, Well, there's a few people.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
The first piece before any of that is.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
The empowerment to believe that me rolling around on stage,
crawling around on stage, getting out in the audio, or
what Brandon and I did together, which was like invite
twenty people to run up on stage during our closing
song at the Sonut Guild ball and like dance with us,
which was incredible to believe that you can do that
and have permission to do that. And it's that it
(09:15):
means something for people to see that like physical embodiment
of liberation. Like that's what I want as a woman
is for people to watch me perform and be like, oh,
like I could be that liberated too, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So that's like the flip.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Side is I want to be that person for someone else,
the people that have been that for me. Number One
Girls Rock Camp. Girls Rock Camp is a nonprofit that
empowers girls, women, non binary.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Trans people in music.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And that was huge for me since I, like I said,
I didn't grow up seeing women. It was like you
had Madonna and Cindy Lapper is how it felt, and
Whitney Houston, you know that were so far removed from
what was possible. It felt like, you know, I needed
to see people more like close to home. So like
girl Girls Rock Camp did that for me. And then
(10:06):
Meg Barnhouse, who's a U minister and folk singer, was
the first female minister I saw.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It was a guitar and the pulpit. That was huge
for me.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And then again I just keep coming back to this,
but Andrew, my partner in this band, he has always
been saying, like, you know, we want this to be
like more theatrical, like what can we do? And and
so like together just continuing to like push the visual
element of the show has been huge and and there's
(10:35):
just so many like you can never credit one person,
but Sonic Guilt Rick. When we did this Sonic Guilt Ball,
that was the first show that we did in a
big theater where they because we're used to playing like
punk clubs and like all this stuff, which is great,
I'll take it. I love it, but playing this big,
long center and they asked us about our lighting choices
and everything and that was our We were like, hmmm,
(10:58):
so so.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
It helped does it?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Vision where we are now this year, which is a
much more like visual as well as audio experience. So
I'm thankful to everybody. It's like everybody influences me. I'm
just trying to stay tapped.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
In that case.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
A preview of your Grammy acceptance.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Hey kne dream Big. I love that. Thank you for
joining me.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Commercial break, We will be back with Aaron Walter of
the Parker Woodland Band.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
This is Marcus Aurelius reappearing to proclaim that truly Significant
Conversations with big hearted people is a rare piece of literature.
This book reminds me of one of my more stirring quotes,
waste no more time arguing what a good.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Man should be be one. If you're stepping into your
next life chapter of your career and questioning what lies
beyond success, this book is for you.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Dive into forty soul stirring stories from luminaries like doctor
Jane Goodall, Ed Asner, and Emily Chang, stories that urge
you to pursue purpose, serve others, and build a legacy
that outlasts you. Authored by Rick TOLKINI, Truly Significant will
(12:30):
challenge your view of success and ignite a life of impact.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Order now at TinyURL dot com backslash Truly Significant and
begin living intentionally. Maybe your epitaph will.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Read she gave outrageously extended grace unceasingly and lived to
help others, so that death found her empty.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Significant dot com and celebrate the most truly significant people
in your life with the truly significant community. How bold
of you to make your next chapter matter and be
truly significant?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
And we're back. We've got a few more questions for
the one and only Aaron Walter of the Parker Woodland Band.
And you see your performances more as a shared experience
with the audience rather than a one way performance.
Speaker 9 (13:32):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Tell me about a memorable reaction from a fan who
connected deeply with your music.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Well, i'll tell you the most recent one. One of
the radio shows that has been so supportive of us
is Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, which is a
show on KTX that's celebrating its twentieth anniversary and it's
all over the country, but KTX is the home station
and we love that show, and so for their twentieth anniversary,
(14:02):
they've been asking listeners to write in or call in
or whatever and talk about it. And this mom from Massachusetts,
I think, shared about how we were her son's favorite
band that they discovered through the show. It got them
through this like these long drives and who's like four,
you know, I think he's eight now, but she sent
(14:23):
a video of him dancing on Christmas morning when he
got his first like CD player or something, and you know,
we're like the first.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Music it it's.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It was the most adorable body I've ever seen, So
that meant a lot to me. And then also when
we have people come up to us sort of crying,
it's often women about We've got a song called Stranger
that's about grief and how it changes you, and I
often get really emotional reactions from people about that, and
(14:54):
I appreciate that because I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Through my own grief that that song expresses. And so yeah, those.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Are from the really joyful ones like a little kid
dancing to the very emotional ones like every connection.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Very meaningful. Where do you see the Park or Woodland
music going in the next few years as far as
new directions, collaborations, or even laboratory experiments on stage.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Oh well, we do have a stylist that we're working
with and lighting designer, so I am excited about for
people to I always say to people if you haven't
seen Parker Woodland recently, you haven't seen Parker Woodland because
we're always like pushing ourselves to grow and evolve the show.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So I'm excited for the live stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Musically, I'm we are evolving that right now. I'd see
us leaning more into psych. We've been very songwriter driven,
so even with like serious rock guitars and like pummeling drums,
there's still this like songwriter and pop sensibility of the songs,
and I think that'll still be there, but we're going
(16:04):
to lean into stretching the arrangements out a little bit more,
getting getting a groove going that people can really sync into.
We're considering, like, is there an instrumental song that we
want to write. We're also very into concept albums, so
we've been this new album that we're writing. We have
a story that we're hoping to tell, so we're seeing
(16:24):
where that story takes us. Sometimes the characters take over
and they do, so I can't exactly promise where the
characters are taking us yet, but it's a fun, really
funny act.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
To use the word character is a plus. That's one
of your unique selling propositions. Final question for you girl,
I feel like I've made a good friend in you.
So I'm going to ask you a deeper question. The
world's on fire, please do and we still fall in love?
(16:54):
What is the word still STI double L mean to
you today?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
So for me, there's this spiritual practice of staying in it,
and that means staying in relationship, staying in the work
of justice, staying in the commitment to music when people
when it gets hard, because it's hard work, people don't
see ninety eight percent of the work that Andrew, Carey
(17:24):
and I put in every day into this band like it.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Is our part and soul.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So still still is that commitment that no matter how
hard and on fire the world gets, we will put
love and art and beauty at the center of our
lives and we will share it no matter.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
What fantastic It was so good to have you on
Aaron and tell our listeners where they can follow you,
Carrie Andrew and see you in person.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Thank you well.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Our website is Parker Woodland dot com and even though
our socials are at Parker Woodland Band, so like Instagram
and Facebook, it's just Parker Woodland for the name of
the band. So parkerwooland dot com and we are embarking
on a tour, so we have a bunch of shows
coming up both in Austin and around Midwest Southeast. If
(18:20):
you're in Austin, we'd love to see you for Ham
Day for our Sonicild showcase on September twentieth, My birthday
show and our one year anniversary is September sixth at
m Park Control Room. There is gonna be so much
fun going. Oh and then one more shout up. The
homecoming show from tour and our single release show will
be a happy Hour show Tuesday, September THIRTIETHT at Continental Club.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's gonna be our first time to play Continental and that's,
you know, such a great venue.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Clubs want to come to you. Yeah, what's that?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yeah, and listen when you come to a show, come
and tell me that you're because you've heard about it.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Pot on Austin Star.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Thank you so much for being on and we are
going to play the World's on Fire in its entirety
now for you folks. But I also want you to
go on YouTube and watch it because you'll get to
see pancakes made When when she Aaron or someone else
was a kid, and it was so nostalgic I almost
stopped to get up to eat a second breakfast. It
(19:25):
was so good anyway, Great job, Erin, Thank you so
much for being on our show today. See you soon,
and folks, as we say, we wish you great success,
but pay attention to the road to significance. Have a
great week.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Hope with that truth, can't.
Speaker 9 (20:02):
I get juke orse?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
They tell you what you're fat if you trust.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That's one thing I know.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's this I felt, says due contest. The last thing
I'll ever kill is.
Speaker 9 (20:17):
About World's on fire. Step fall love, World's on fire,
will step all love.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
World's on fire.
Speaker 9 (20:27):
We're not giving out No, no, I could let you
go saying it's no, we're f a all. I can
give up the phoning.
Speaker 10 (20:37):
No once they said, having hope than even.
Speaker 9 (20:43):
Though everything's wrong, it shows I still love at you In,
and I.
Speaker 10 (20:49):
Know one thing could be perfect.
Speaker 9 (20:56):
Well's on fire, step all, World's on fire, still botta bah,
World's on fire.
Speaker 10 (21:03):
We're not giving up No, No, don't want to do I.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Catch myself one to believe it.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I think I could take a risk this time hard
to mill the fall home not. She can't feel like
a joke horse.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
They tell you what's your fault if you try.
Speaker 9 (21:44):
Bow fire stealth? Bottom up world a fire? Still bottom
up World's on fire. We're not getting up. No, No,
world's on fire, steal bottom up World's on fire.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Still Father bout brows on fire?
Speaker 9 (22:02):
Still father about worlds on fire? Don't father though,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!