Lee Roy Parnell Biography

Lee Roy Parnell Biography

Lee Roy Parnell (born December 21, 1956) is an American country music singer-songwriter and slide guitarist. Active since 1990, he has recorded eight major-label studio albums to date, and has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. His biggest hits to date are "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am" (1992), "Tender Moment" (1993), and "A Little Bit of You" (1995), all of which peaked at #2. Parnell was born in Abilene, Texas in 1956. His parents were friends of country superstar Bob Wills, and Parnell began his music career on Wills's local radio show at the age of six. During his teens, he played drums and guitar in some local bands, and he played in Kinky Friedman's Texas Jewboys band during the early 1970s. He continued to play in local clubs throughout Texas until 1987, when he moved to Nashville and became a regular performer at the Bluebird Café.

Parnell recorded his first album, Lee Roy Parnell, for Arista Records in 1990. His second album, 1992's Love Without Mercy, was the most successful of his career, containing threeBillboard top-10 hits, namely the title track, "Tender Moment," and "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am." 1993's On the Road also produced two top-10 hits, the title track and "I'm Holding My Own." The album also contained a rendition of the Hank Williams classic "Take These Chains from My Heart," as a duet with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn.Early in his career, Parnell played a 1950s vintage Gibson Les Paul guitar. During his Nashville years, however, he switched to Fender guitars partially due to an endorsement deal with the manufacturer. In the early 1990s, Parnell also co-wrote songs for two other country acts: "Too Much", which was recorded by Pirates of the Mississippi, and "That's My Story", which was cut by Collin Raye. Parnell collaborated with Trisha Yearwood, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, and Flaco Jimenez in his 1995 album We All Get Lucky Sometimes, which contained the hits "A Little Bit of You" and "Heart's Desire." 1997's Every Night's a Saturday Night was his last album for Arista. He also played on Carpenter's 1994 hit "Shut up and Kiss Me", appearing in the song's video. Parnell recorded an album titled Tell the Truth for Vanguard Records in 2001, and he released Back to the Well for Universal South Records in 2006.