For many musicians, New Orleans holds a particular kind of magic not found anywhere else.
“Music is everywhere, the city is steeped in it,” says Meghan Parnell, frontwoman with Bywater Call, a seven-piece Canadian blues-rock band, named after a neighbourhood bordering the area’s French Quarter.
That rootsy New Orleans vibe sits at the heart of Bywater Call’s third studio album, Shepherd, where country-tinged guitars meet jazz-funk flourishes and swelling organs in an earthy Americana blend. Parnell’s gorgeous, honey-smoked vocals offer “life lessons” and “a general observation of humanity”.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t singing in some form,” Parnell muses. As a child she harmonised with her mother, who would play guitar and sing songs by The Beatles and the Everly Brothers. Although rock’n’roll provided the soundtrack to her upbringing, she initially dreamed of a life in musical theatre. Nevertheless, she was soon swayed by how rewarding it felt to perform in a live band.
“I realised you get to sing all the songs,” she says, laughing, “and you don’t have to memorise the lines!”
Through multiple stints in successful party/function projects she met her partner Dave Barnes, and in 2016 they formed Bywater Call with bass guitarist Mike Meusel, who previously attended Humber College, a jazz school in Toronto, along with the rest of the band.
“The jazz background is one of the things that really helps us [to] be unique”, Parnell states, “because the band often break out into these brilliant improvised sections, and that obviously comes from their education.”
The band all live fairly close by in Toronto. Bywater Call’s native roots remain strong, despite their love of New Orleans.
“The Band are a big influence for us,” she explains, “as is Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. They captured that warmth that we were looking for in a sound, but also something distinctly Canadian. You can hear the loons on Lake Ontario, or the people sitting around a campfire on the beach playing guitar.”
Over the last few years Parnell has become something of a household name in the blues world. Bywater Call were even nominated for International Blues Artist of the year, and this October they head to the UK for their second tour here.
“We’d love to support bands like Tedeschi Trucks, Black Crowes or Grace Potter,” Parnell reveals.
In the meantime, she hopes to “build an army”, while continuing to give her audience goosebumps, or even a few tears.
“It’s very important to me as a performer,” she says, “that I am making people feel something”.
The self-released Shepherd is out now. The band tour Europe from October 2. For dates and tickets, visit the Bywater Call website.
