Music City is bursting at the seams with talent. Live music is played everywhere: on street corners, in restaurants, in malls and even in the Nashville International Airport.
As a native Nashvillian, sophomore Hudson Parker grew up accustomed to the sound of an acoustic guitar.
“It’s all I’ve known from a young age,” he said. “It’s never crossed my mind, not doing it.”
Just this summer, Parker put out his first EP, titled, “Last Love.”
Despite his familiarity with the medium, Parker originally felt like he didn’t want to do music full-time. After graduating from Lipscomb Academy, he came to the University from to study English. His EP, he says, is just to “get stuff out there.” It was a self-assigned project he committed to back in January.
Parker is minoring in music, and he says the two subjects blend together beautifully.
“English helps everything,” he said. “It helps you learn how to think right and build art. The department is very encouraging and personal, so they help you build your voice and style. So when I write music, I already have this voice.”
Though he’s found success and enjoyed his time at Lipscomb, he was hesitant about applying at first. Parker’s parents and two older brothers all attended Lipscomb.
“I appreciate the things my family has done at this school, and I’m proud to be a part of it,” he said. “In a way, it’s inspired me, but, in the beginning, it was hard, especially freshman year.”
Parker says many people knew his last name, and he was followed by assumptions.
“I often got the, ‘Well, you’re a Parker, so…’ and I want to say, ‘Yeah, I’m also a human being,'” he said.
His family’s musical history had an impact on his artistic career, though. Parker grew up as the son of a Church of Christ song leader.
“So I had to know how to sing,” he said. “It was all kind of natural.”
It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he realized he wanted to follow even more in his father’s footsteps. He started a worship night for high school students in Nashville, and he says that that’s when he started entertaining the thought of worship ministry.
“At first I wanted to do sports journalism,” he said, “but once I started taking worship ministry seriously, Lipscomb was so awesome and encouraging, giving me platforms to do that.”
Parker’s EP gives a peek into this side of him. Each song is intentionally laced with themes of worship, sometimes subtly, and sometimes very obviously. “One of the songs is a heartbreak song, one is a love song, one is about heaven, and one is the pursuit of the last person you will love,” he said. “That all involves wrestling.”
Parker says that he wrote the last track, the EP’s namesake, “Last Love,” after the other three, in an attempt to tie them all together.
“My whole life I’ve loved the concept of marriage. I’ve always been a softy in that sense,” he said. “Just the idea of spending the rest of your life with your best friend is a beautiful thing.”
Though Parker doesn’t necessarily expect the record to get big, he still feels like he accomplished his goal and cherishes the process of making it. “It was definitely more of a personal goal,” he said. “I had a blast, and my best friends played on it.”
Parker recorded the songs in Lipscomb’s own Contemporary Music House’s studio, with his older brother Grant producing the EP and senior Ben Roberson as the engineer. The album art, which complements the album’s simplicity and romance, was designed by sophomore Sara Grace Sparks.
Parker’s EP, “Last Love,” is available on all streaming platforms. He will also be hosting a worship night on October 4 at Woodmont Hills Church.