Friday, October 08, 2021

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Lee Roy Parnell


Artist:Lee Roy Parnell

Song:What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am?)

Album:Hits and Highways Ahead


The 1993 single What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am?) was the first in a string of country music hits for Lee Roy Parnell. He also had success as a songwriter and session guitarist. He was born Dec. 21, 1956 in Abilene, TX. His father was in Bob Wills' band and Parnell was six years old when he performed on Wills' radio show. Parnell was in bands as a teen. He moved to Austin in 1974 to join Kinky Friedman's Texas Jewboys. Parnell worked in radio during the day and played clubs at night. He moved to Nashville in 1987, got a publishing deal and performed regularly at The Bluebird Cafe. This led to a record deal with Arista Nashville and producer Scott Hendricks. Barry Beckett produced Parnell's first two albums at Muscle Shoals. The first album didn't do that well. What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am?) was the first single from the 1993 album Love Without Mercy. It reached #2 on the Country Singles chart. That was the first of five consecutive top ten country hits for Parnell. What Kind of Fool was written by Al Carmichael and Gary Griffin. Griffin was mainly a recording engineer. Parnell also wrote hits for Collin Raye and Kenny Chesney. And as you will see in the video clip, he's a pretty good slide guitar player and that got him plenty of session work. Parnell released five albums on Arista Nashville and its subsidiary Career Records. This comp was released in 1999 and it is available as a digital download. Since then Parnell has recorded for Vanguard and Universal South. His latest record Midnight Believer was released in 2017 on Vector Records which is owned by his manager. He's performing live again. And he has a signature guitar at Gibson. It's a variation of a Les Paul guitar. That's a big deal for him. Here's Lee Roy Parnell performing What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am?) on Austin City Limits 1993.


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