Jeremy Parsons: San Antonio Streets to Global Americana Voice

The following feature is now included in our online magazine which is also available in print.

Issue #3

San Antonio native Jeremy Parsons has gained a following quite quietly, combining Americana, country, and dashes of electronica into a familiar, modern sound. Parsons started out in high school when the guitar became his tool for feeling and reflection. However, Parsons did have a talent for writing songs beyond melodies, condensing the harsh realities of life in Texas into a sense of honesty that would later become his hallmark. He has honed that craft since then, touring America and Europe, winning fans over with performances that are almost intimate in feel despite the numbers of people attending.

Having three full-length albums to his credit, Parsons has set an ongoing standard for sincerity and profundity. In 2023, he started to issue singles from his new EP, Life, with each offering showing the growth of an artist capable of maneuvering personal vulnerability and radio-friendly hook-crafting with equal finesse. His singles have consistently performed well, a few charting in the top regions of the UK iTunes charts and gathering more than 1.5 million streams on Spotify. Singles like Humanity and Life Worth Dyin' For have further cemented his sound on the radio, the latter charting as the number one National Radio Hits AC40 and Country airplay chart. Awards soon followed, with Parsons winning the 2024 New Music Award for Country Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and reaching the final of the 2024 New Folk Competition.

Parsons' new release, The Garden, shows him to be able to make remembrance and reflection into music that happens. Taken from his childhood and observations of mental illness, the song reached #45 on the Billboard Digital Songs Sales chart to affirm the success of his extremely personal music. Having that in mind, his latest release, Who Was I?, available September 5, offers an even more personal exploration of his growing-up. Born as a tongue-in-cheek reaction to a critic who had questioned the personal introspection of his 2021 album Things To Come, the song turned into an examination of youth, errors, and consciousness. Parsons looks back at life at age 25 with bald honesty that few songwriters have ever come close to, making confessional lines an universal reference point.

Couplets such as Sleeping through the days, living for the night / Yeah doing lots of things to see if I could die face up to the search and risk of youth, and his suave, leathery voice bring the tale into a real, human voice. Perhaps more than anything, Who Was I? equates Parsons' American roots with unflashy playing that supports but never overpowers, letting space for the tale to breathe. Jason Isbell, John Moreland, and Brandi Carlile fans will discover traces of the same unflinching honesty and emotional sincerity, and the fans of Boyhood and Lady Bird movies, which lay bare the complexity of coming-of-age and self-realization, will discover the cinematic sound in Parsons' songs.

The song, and earlier success, places Parsons as a voice reflective at a personal level but universal in appeal, one to be comforting for anyone passing through their own past. Parsons continuing to release songs from the Life EP establishes the precedent. Parsons is an artist who derives from experience lived, giving it back in music both personal and universal. With several new singles on the horizon, he is quietly gathering a body of work that will have him expand the parameters of Americana without ever losing sight of the type of storytelling that has made the genre so appealing for so long. Who Was I?

and the entire EP streams on MTS Records everywhere, inviting new listeners and longtime ones to come aboard Parsons as he looks back while looking ahead in an odd sense of direction and disconnection. For fans of contemplative country-inflected storytelling, this is music to spend time with. Pair a listening session with a late-night drive, a quiet coffee shop, or a walk through familiar streets, and you’ll understand why Jeremy Parsons is emerging as one of Americana’s most introspective and resonant voices.

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