Parker Millsap Brings Variety of Sounds to White Water Tavern

by Julian Spivey

Julian Spivey Photo

Singer-songwriter Parker Millsap wrapped his month-long tour at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Ark., on Sunday, May 4. He fit about 18 songs into a brief, less than 90-minute set, showcasing his powerful vocals and excellent guitar playing.

I first saw Parker Millsap live at the Outland Ballroom in Springfield, Mo., in the summer of 2017. At the time, he had only two solo albums under his belt, and his most recent album, The Very Last Day, from the year before, had been one of my favorites.

In his early 20s, Millsap put forth one of the most energetic, foot-stomping shows I’d ever seen, completely drenched in sweat by the show’s end. His first two albums were the kind of gospel-tinged, alt-country-folk Americana that led to both performer and crowd constantly moving in unison to the raucous performances.

After that, Millsap’s music began to change. It became a little more bluesy, rock-ish and even poppier. On his latest album, 2023’s Wilderness Within You, his music changed again to a more stripped down folksy vibe. He’s a chameleon who loves different sounds and writes and records in these various sounds. I haven’t liked his three most recent albums nearly as much as I did The Very Last Day, but they’re still worthwhile, and Millsap showed on Sunday night in person that these sounds all mesh together fairly well in a live setting, even if they didn’t always catch my ear on the recordings.

On Sunday night, he performed three songs from The Very Last Day at the White Water Tavern: the title track, “Hades Pleads” and, my ultimate favorite, “Heaven Sent.” They were my favorite performances of the evening, but I could’ve told you going in that would likely be the case. It’s probably just my affection for these songs that makes me feel this way, but they, along with the similar fire-and-brimstone-sounding “Truckstop Gospel” from 2014’s self-titled album, seem to be Millsap at his best.

“Heaven Sent,” the story of the gay son of a preacher who struggles with his dad's inability to understand him, has been one of my favorite songs since I first heard it in 2016. On this website, I ranked it the best Americana/Country song of 2016 and the No. 8 best song of the decade (2010-2019) in 2019.

The bluesy tracks from Millsap’s three most recent albums, such as “The Real Thing " from 2021’s Be Here Instead and “Your Water” from 2018’s Other Arrangements, were the ones I liked the most from his post-The Very Last Day output.

Other highlights included “Front Porchin’” and “So Far Apart,” with which he opened the show, from Wilderness Within You.   

Millsap had a fantastic group of musicians playing with him on Sunday night: Michael Zimmerman on bass, Hayden Cotcher on drums and the fantastic Bobby Steinfeld on keys.

Millsap wrapped up the night with a solo performance of a beautiful new song called “Before the Curtain Closes,” which was a fitting way to end the evening. The song is a part of a four-song EP he’s recorded with the musical ensemble Lockeland Strings, which drops this upcoming Friday (May 9).