Chris Parker lives in Minnesota and runs the variety zine/podcast, Sew:YKnot?. He’s written syndicated cover stories for alt-weeklies across the country in the Village Voice chain, appeared in Alternative Press, AVClub, High Times, Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and the Guardian, published King James Brings The Land a Crown: The Definitive Tale of the Cavaliers’ 2016 Title Run, and is in the process of finishing book on how 80s/90s roots-punks fomented Americana, helping to instill the DIY an attitude and values necessary to survive without mainstream attention/validation.
There’s a hum like 1000 decisions demanding to be made. The pressure to compete, consume, create, compare, capitalize & not capitulate will make your eyeballs sweat. It’s spiritual tinnitus. The cure is disconnecting body from brain with the vibrant heartfelt rumble of Minneapolis’ Black Widows.
The partnership was sparked in 2022 when Bad Bad Hats invited Party Nails’ Elena Carroll on stage to cover Josie & the Pussycats, “Pretend to Be Nice,” which was a regular Bad Bad Hats set-closer for years. The chemistry of that performance outlasted the evening.
Duluth native Breanne Marie has a warm, easy manner & her band, “the front-porch sinners” were conceived as cohorts & abettors that might plot and/or reminisce youthful indiscretions from the shared sanctuary of the front porch. That’s the vibe the Americana/roots rock act are intent on manifesting.
While his professional career was on the upswing, things weren’t great personally. He had to address a substance abuse problem that comes with spending half your life in bars. His marriage was failing, and ended in a divorce. Then moving his upright around his new rental home he cracked a vertebrae.