Graham Parker

Graham Parker kicked around various bands in London before hooking up with the Rumour and recording with future Stiff Records chief Dave Robinson in 1975. The resulting 1976 album, Howlin’ Wind, yielded the outfit a Top 40 hit with “Don’t Ask Me Questions.” The song’s blend of R&B, soulful folk and rock and roll proved an immediate and enduring hit with audiences at a time when punk was making headlines via the media’s sensationalistic take on that phenomenon. You can hear echoes of Parker’s style in the early work of “new wave” artists like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, and although he was as commercially successful as his peers through the ’80s, Parker has been a criminally underappreciated songwriter. Here’s a chance to see him in the kind of dive bar where he got his start.