Clay Parker & Jodi James

Clay Parker and Jodi James are a duo-band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The pair’s use of dense harmony-singing and subtle musical arrangements indelibly binds them to the tradition of singer-songwriters and positions them well in the folk roots and Americana strains of country music.

Their sound borrows from and transforms traditional Southern cornerstones such as folk, blues, and country. However, though the duo remains loyal to the heritage that brought them together, Clay and Jodi are unafraid of experimenting further, often intermixing mellow psychedelia and cosmic country into their classic harmonies.

In fact, Clay and Jodi aren’t afraid of much. Just six months after they wrote their first song together, they set out on their first tour together, all without the perks of an advance, a tour manager, or even social media to guide fans to their first shows. “I think we both appreciate old-fashioned methods and ways of doing things,” says Jodi. “We’d rather play a different town every night… traveling and bringing our music to all these different people and places organically.”

Also in 2018, Clay and Jodi were invited to play the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The duo delivered an electrifying set, bringing the seated crowd in front of the Lagniappe stage to their feet at the end of their finale. They were welcomed back to the festival in 2019 for two performances which were received in kind.

After an uncertain couple of years through the pandemic — within which the pair released The Quarantine Tapes (a series of one-pass home recordings) and embarked on a tour with Bonnie Bishop for a run of shows featuring stripped-down acoustic performances of both acts songs — Clay and Jodi are gathering the pieces once again to return to the road.