'New Outlaw' Millsap in Little Rock

Following on the heels of John Fulbright and John Moreland, Parker Millsap is the latest young Oklahoma singer-songwriter to win acclaim for his music.

Millsap has just released what he considers his second album (although it's really his fourth).

"We put out a homemade album we sold at our gigs and then we put out one we named Palisade," Millsap says. "In 2014, I put out my self-titled debut album on my own label, Okrahoma, and on March 25, I put out the follow-up to that, The Very Last Day." The latest pair seem more real to Millsap since they are distributed by Thirty Tigers, a well-respected label.

If the new album's name suggests something ominous, it's no accident. Millsap, who hails from Purcell, Okla., was raised in the Pentecostal church, and the things he heard and sang about as a youngster there have influenced his songwriting, which covers the topics of sin and salvation.

Purcell didn't keep the now-23-year-old Millsap for long. He traveled to northern California and learned a bit about how a recording studio works, then returned to Oklahoma and lived in Guthrie, an hour from Purcell. Then he moved to Nashville, Tenn., closer to his performing venues.

"It's a lot easier to tour from Nashville," he says. "The past five years we've worn out a couple of vehicles, starting with a '93 Ford Ranger and then a Nissan minivan. Now we have a 12-passenger work vehicle, with plenty of room for guitars, a stand-up bass and merchandise."

One of his earliest shows in Nashville was at the city's legendary bluegrass club, the Station Inn, where he was part of a songwriters in the round show with Shawn Camp, from Perryville, and two members of Old Crow Medicine Show, Ketch Secor and Critter Fuqua.

The gig led to Millsap's landing a spot opening the show for Old Crow, but other than those shows and occasional spots opening for Jason Isbell, Patty Griffin, Lake Street Dive and Shovels & Rope, he plans on concentrating on headlining shows.

Millsap is no stranger to these parts. He recalls shows at White Water Tavern and Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack before national media began singing his praises. The latest example was the April-May issue of Southern magazine Garden & Gun, with Chris Stapleton's face on the cover, and Millsap's name down at the bottom, along with four others proclaimed "Country Music's New Outlaws."

And while the magazine did not run a photo of Millsap, they did mention his obvious resemblance to a more youthful Academy Award-winning actor, Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Millsap says with a laugh.

He has long traveled with childhood friend bassist Michael Rose and classically trained violinist Daniel Foulks.

"We may also have a drummer with us at the Little Rock show," Millsap says. "We pretty much do my songs, with a few covers thrown in. I get a lot of requests for the old blues song, 'You Gotta Move,' by the Rev. Gary Davis, but most people know it for the version by the [Rolling] Stones."

Style on 04/05/2016