The Feature: Runaway Dorothy

David Parnell, the creative force behind Runaway Dorothy, spent his youth harbouring lofty dreams of basketball stardom. That Carolina kid is now a band man in New York City, in possession of one album with plans for a follow-up. I was going to jump on a plane to meet him personally, but then I remembered I wasn’t being bankrolled and that I tend to get homesick within 3 hours of leaving my house. Thankfully, that great, invisible information stream in the sky bailed me out, so here it is. Post Acid Youth’s first Feature: Runaway Dorothy.

Parnell’s musical education began in the backseat of his parent’s Thunderbird (a rock ‘n’ roll car, if ever there was one.) Through the radio, the fingers of folk clawed while the quarrels of country brawled in Parnell’s psyche, percolating within him with the experience which vaunted songs and legendary stories bring.  At home, his father played a constant barrage of Bob Dylan records; arguably the best music teacher any student could ask for, it afforded him endless hours of lessons, Parnell recalls that: “one of the very first memories of singing I have, is singing ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’.” from Dylan’s legendary cross-over album ‘Bringing It All Back Home’.

There’s a casual air to Parnell’s admission, as though the 115th Dream is a three-minute blast of la-la-la’s and a-ha-ha’s, but you get the idea that he is all too aware of his talents. ‘Takes a Lot of Love’ from the 2008 release, ‘The Arc’, is a heartfelt indictment, an anti-love song in which, Parnell’s voice rides undercurrent to the anarchic harmonica explosions that leaves a rusty scrawl of a signature by the song’s end. There have been comparisons between his voice and that of Bob Dylan, and they’re not totally unfounded. However, I would liken his voice to another artist, exactly who, I will reveal further down the page.

Adolescence brought with it, as always, rebellion. Forsaking the traditions which had been a mainstay in his music diet, Parnell turned instead, to European bands from the other side of the Atlantic who subscribed to the Indie movement of the mid 1990s. The Gallagher-fueled Oasis, Richard Ashcroft’s Verve and Radiohead provided him with fresh inspiration and the desire to see what he could achieve with the slow progress from self-taught guitar to complete, handwritten songs. From there, Parnell grew as an artist. He gained confidence behind the guise of a guitar player in a band he didn’t write the songs for, where the pressure to live up to his idols did not exist.

Where there was no control on one front, there was plenty on another. In private, he was compiling songs laced with the Country influence of nostalgia (see the banjo part in ‘Hard Way Home’), acquiring personal commendations and support to the point that he quit one band to form another: Runaway Dorothy. “Runaway Dorothy I like to think,” Parnell said, “is a product of my songwriting coming from riding around in a Ford Thunderbird on Sundays and wanting to be in Oasis and U2.” The backlog of influences on RD is extensive and like all of us, eclectic, from the aforementioned U2 and Oasis, Parnell cites the Jayhawks as a past and present love but also Dean Martin as someone who lends momentary snaps of genius and instantaneous crackles of inspiration – if inspiration crackles, that is.

Continuing my war against the NME, I’m tempted to say Parnell’s voice is a tracer-round of vulnerability, a shot in the dark that bursts before disappearing again in a blinding streak of dying light. No, in fact, I’m going to say that, because I’m quite taken by the ‘tracer-round’ comparison. For the most part, I feel as vulnerable as a lion armed with a hefty machete, so I’m perhaps not best placed to consider the many facets of Parnell’s voice and the vocals within RD in general. Those vocals, which, as I said, have described as Dylan-esque (both Bob and Jakob), are honest and to me, recall primetime Ryan Adams sans the half-garbled enunciation that can sometimes spoil some of his better lines. Horace’s tip: if you like Ryan Adams, purchase RD’s The Arc, you won’t be disappointed.

It is clear that Parnell has found his niche, and that the enthusiasm he exudes is more than likely shared by his bandmates. “I would say the biggest kick for me is playing live,” Parnell began, frothing at the mouth at the life he has made for himself, “I love going to cities I have never been before…getting nervous before we go on stage…It’s the greatest thing.”

Runaway Dorothy are themselves currently steeped in plans for a second album; Parnell has begun working on demos. Having said that, work is far from complete from the era marked by The Arc. The band have a tour lined up, as well as “big plans” for two music videos for ‘Abilene’ and for ‘Takes a Lot of Love’ what he describes will be a “monster undertaking” .

They are then, a fusion of stern influences and teenage rebellion, their songs yield feelings which would be lost on many bands in this modern era. Driven by tight musicianship, meaningful lyrics and Parnell himself, Runaway Dorothy are primed to step up to the plate and deliver on the promise inherent in their music. They have burrowed themselves deep into the affections of us here at PostAcidYouth with bluesy rock ‘n’ roll and the honest stories of Average Joe: stories that everybody can, and should, invest in.

I would like to offer my thanks to David Parnell, and by extension, to his Runaway Dorothy bandmates for the work they have, and hopefully will continue to produce, with passion, with gusto and verve.

I have been Horace Blackspur, and you have been brilliant.