David Parker Allen Music
Album: Broke
Release Date: June 2026
Label: Plainbird
Liner Notes
It’s one thing to write a story. It’s another thing to tell it.
Broke is a loose soundtrack to the book Whaling Town - Poems, a collection of stories in settings across rural and urban America in the 2020s.
The music recording started as an effort to blend early American country blues and Appalachian sound from the 1920s and 1930s with a modern voice honest to both the songs and the artists who recorded it.
Background
The Delta and A Song For Charlie Patton are poems from Whaling Town and true stories. On the hot, caked flood plain of the Mississippi Delta in 2024, while walking plantation grounds next to muddy green streams and empty train tracks, the ambition to bring these songs to life sprung. Fading names like WC Handy and Charlie Patton, unknown names like Mattie Delaney, and mythic names like Robert Johnson and Son House were inspirations for the first songs written: Miss Fortune, Forgotton Wail and River Risin’.
The Mississippi Delta surprised me. First and foremost, the Delta is much further north than I assumed, closer to Memphis than New Orleans. Yes, it is in the heart of the deep south, but there is an industrial undercurrent lurking. Second, look at the Delta from satellite images. It is a noticeable geological standout on our planet. There is only one place on earth that looks physically comparable in person: the Nile flood plain in Egypt.
Which brings us to the Plains, a place influencing the songs recorded here. There is something in the quiet lonesomeness of the plains. You hear it in Woodie Guthrie and Lead Belly. Not just any old quiet, but a planetary, infinite quiet. Ironic, since we are talking about sound. If anything, attempting to find a balance of sound and no sound is the essence of the rhythm in the poems in Whaling Town and the recording here.
Guided by lead producer Steve Rashid, this recording is an organic collection of the art the musicians brought to it. Which brings us to best part of the story – the musicians and the artists.
Recordings took place at Woodside Avenue Music in Evanston, IL (Steve Rashid) and Basecamp Recording in Bozeman, MT (Chris Cunningham). In order of how the recording unfolded:
Steve Rashid – Producer, Keys, Harmonica, Harmonium
Emmy award winning composer, solo jazz artist, Studio 5 owner, Producer.
Don Stiernberg – Mandolin, Guitar
Internationally recognized bluegrass and jazz mandolin player who played with Jethro Burns and David Grisman.
Jonas Friddle – Banjo, Guitar
A leading solo artist and banjo/guitar player in the Chicago folk music scene, and an award-winning songwriter.
Chris Cunningham – Acoustic Guitar, Baritone Guitar, Vocals, Producer
Montana based producer and member of StoryHill.
Clay Green – Drums, Percussion
Well known Montana based drummer who has toured internationally.
Parker Brown – Bass, Electric Guitars, Pedal Steel, Lap Steel
Solo artist and one of the top all around session musicians in Montana.
Donna Herula – Resonator, Slide Guitar
Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. Chicago-based solo artist.
Megon McDonough – Vocals
Chicago-based vocalist. Credits include opening for John Denver at age 19 at Carnegie Hall.
Bill Uhler – Acoustic Guitar
Chicago-based guitarist and solo performer. Credits include opening for Bo Diddley and Koko Taylor.
Miss Fortune and Cold Kentucky (first called Wicked Witch Blues) were the first songs written, on the same day, in the middle of the night, in a hotel in Monterey CA in April 2023. The rest of the songs were written in Boca Grande, FL (Broke, Antietam, Forgotton), Chicago, IL (Bright Blue, Walking Man, Lay Me, The One You Knew) and Cameron, MT (Anthem, $5MM).
Cold Kentucky: E minor
Don Stiernberg (Mandolin), Jonas Friddle (Clawhammer Banjo), Clay Green (Drums), Parker Brown (Bass), Megon McDonald (Vocal). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music and Basecamp Recording.
Miss Fortune: E
Donna Herula (Resonator and Slide Guitar). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
Walking Man: E Flat
Steve Rashid (Piano and Organ), Parker Brown (Bass and Electric Guitar), Clay Green (Drums and other percussion), Megon McDonough (Background Vocal). Recorded at Basecamp Recording and Woodside Avenue Music.
Bright Blue Moon: E
Bill Uhler (Acoustic Guitars). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
Broke As My Horse: D
Chris Cunningham (Acoustic Guitar, Vocals), Parker Brown (Pedal Steel, Lap Steel, Electric Guitars, Bass), Clay Green (Drums and percussion). Recorded at Basecamp Recording.
River Risin’: E minor
Donna Herula (Acoustic Slide and Electric Slide). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
Anthem Of Our Time: D minor
Parker Brown (Electric Guitars, Bass), Clay Green (Drums), Chris Cunningham (Acoustic Guitar, Keys, Vocals). Recorded at Basecamp Recording.
Forgotton Wail: B Minor
Chris Cunningham (Acoustic Guitar, Baritone Guitar), David A. (Acoustic Guitar). Recorded at Basecamp Recording.
Lope in Heaven: C
Jonas Friddle (Acoustic Guitar), Don Stiernberg (Mandolin), Steve Rashid (Keys, Harmonium, Harmonica). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
$5MM: E Flat
Parker Brown (Electric Guitar, Bass), Clay Green (Drums), Chris Cunningham (Acoustic Guitar, Vocals), Megon McDonough (Vocals). Recorded at Basecamp Recording and Woodside Avenue Music.
Antietam Song (Bloody Lane): A minor
Don Stiernberg (Acoustic Guitar). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
Lay Me In The Sun: C
Don Stiernberg (Acoustic Guitar and Mandolin). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.
The One You Knew: C
David A. (Acoustic Guitar). Recorded at Woodside Avenue Music.