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I first discovered the music of Graham Parker<\/strong> in the early-early 80s, in the finale year of my high school career. This was before MTV; if I recall correctly \u2013 this was a looong time ago \u2013 I learned of him via his association with other British acts I enjoyed. People like Nick Lowe<\/a><\/strong> (who produced Parker’s Stick to Me<\/em> album) and so forth. At the time, I didn’t know enough about pop music history to understand how Parker fit into the musical mosaic; later I’d appreciate this his music draws upon American soul and r&b as much as rock, and was part of the proud tradition of deeply personal and powerful singer\/songwriters (see also: Bruce Springsteen<\/strong>, Van Morrison<\/strong><\/a> and Thin Lizzy<\/strong><\/a>‘s Phil Lynott<\/strong>) but even then I had the feeling that he was well apart from the punk\/new wave scene.<\/p>\n I grabbed up his albums whenever I found them; I even snagged a copy of The Pink Parker<\/em>, the 1977 EP that contained Graham Parker and The Rumour<\/strong>‘s thrilling cover of The Trammps<\/strong>‘ \u201cHold Back the Night.\u201d But once the vinyl era ended, I began to lose contact with Parker’s music. Live! Alone in America<\/em> was the last Parker album (cassette, actually) I heard for many years.<\/p>\n Recently I discovered that he’s remained active, and that I well should have continued to pay attention. He reunited with his old band The Rumour in 2012 for a well-received album called Three Chords Good<\/em>. And the fire still burns brightly for Parker and his mates.<\/p>\n The other big bit of news is the release \u2013 this week, in fact \u2013 of the long-gestating documentary film<\/a> Don’t Ask Me Questions<\/em>. It’s an incisive look at Parker and his music, from the beginning ’til now. Available on DVD and download<\/a>, it’s a highly enjoyable and well-paced look at Parker, and of course the music is stellar.<\/p>\n