KZSM — Sharing love through music tonight
KZSM.org offers support and resources to the community along with diversion and entertainment. Those goals combine perfectly in tonight’s “Revolving Door” broadcast (6-8 p.m.) as host Rob Roark interviews Erin Walter and features the music of her band Parker Woodland. He will play selections from their new fivesong EP "Live From LOVE Hill," which was released Friday on Bandcamp.
ParkerWoodland.com describes the band as “an energetic indie rock collective that mixes punk, pop, and heart-on-sleeve indie folk without a care for categories.” The band strives to convey a sense of love and community, in keeping with Walter’s calling as a Unitarian Universalist minister. She describes her songs as “an expression of my values--love for all people and acting as a community to make the world a better place.
Parker Woodland’s new EP release expresses those values through its distribution as well as its music: proceeds from the first month’s sale of the EP will go to the SIMS foundation, a non-profit that provides mental health and substance use recovery services and support for musicians, music industry professionals, and their dependent family members. As Walter explains, "Live From LOVE Hill" relates to mental health and real-life struggles. The first single ‘Any Other Way’ is about . . . when you feel like giving up, when you’re really on the edge, and also what it means to really live your life as yourself.” Having mental support like that provided by SIMS helps musicians to live fully and thrive. “It’s a myth that we do our best work when we’re struggling.” The EP is an exclusive on Band Camp until October 1 and then will be released widely, and it is always available on ParkerWoodland.com.
For Walter, making music is an act of love, for listeners and for the musicians served by SIMS. “Especially in the pandemic, people need to hear directly and unequivocally that they are loved and cared for. These live recordings—they aren’t perfect, they aren’t the best music ever done, but I want to reach people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s perfect. Don’t wait until you yourself are perfect to show up, to enjoy your life.”
Erin Walter and Parker Woodland want to create community and reach people “in a grassroots way, so I really appreciate radio stations like KZSM.” Go to KZSM.org tonight at 6 to enjoy your life and celebrate community.
