Dean Parks


Weldon Dean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination.

Albums

Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. In 1980, he was a founding member of the Christian Jazz Fusion band Koinonia. Parks is best known for his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, and Bread. Notably, he played guitar on Steely Dan's Royal Scam track "Haitian Divorce". Parks is also a long-time collaborator on David Foster albums, such as Shadows by Gordon Lightfoot.
Parks features on Cat Beach's albums Letting Go and Love Me Out Loud. In 2008, Parks participated in the production of the album Psalngs, the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre.
Parks is very prominently featured on Viktor Krauss' album II, where he plays a plethora of other stringed instruments in addition to electric and acoustic guitars. He played on eight Lyle Lovett albums.

Tours

During the late 1970s, Parks teamed up with Bread for their "Lost Without Your Love" reunion tour, taking on the responsibilities of lead guitarist. Following the departure of founding member Jimmy Griffin, Parks then became the 'unofficial' fourth member for the duration of the 1977/78 tours, including the visit to England to record a BBC TV special.
He continued the role when Bread's co-founder, David Gates, put together his own solo touring band shortly afterwards. In the spring of 2005 he joined David Crosby and Graham Nash on their European tour, as well as their U.S. tours in fall 2007, fall 2008, and spring 2011. In April 2017 Parks joined James Taylor's band while Taylor recovered from a broken finger.

Movies

Parks has played guitar for film scores such as Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, Bowfinger, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Bounce, Days of Thunder, Dying Young, August Rush, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story and Rosewood.

Personal life

He was married to fellow musician Carol Parks.

Discography

With America
  • 1980 Alibi
  • 1982 View from the Ground
  • 1984 Perspective
With Bobby Bland
  • 1969 Spotlighting the Man
  • 1973 His California Album
  • 1974 Dreamer
With Cher/Sonny & Cher
  • 1973 Sonny & Cher Live, Sonny & Cher
  • 1973 Bittersweet White Light, Cher
  • 1973 Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs, Sonny & Cher
With Chris Botti
With Michael Bublé
  • 2003 Michael Bublé
  • 2005 It's Time
  • 2007 Call Me Irresponsible
  • 2009 Crazy Love
  • 2011 Christmas
  • 2018 Love
With T Bone Burnett
  • 1972 The B-52 Band & the Fabulous Skylarks
  • 1992 The Criminal Under My Own Hat
With Joe Cocker
  • 1984 Civilized Man
  • 1996 Organic
  • 1997 Across from Midnight
  • 2004 Heart & Soul
With Koinonia
  • 1983 More Than a Feelin'
  • 1989 Koinonia
With Andraé Crouch
With Rita Coolidge
  • 1974 Fall into Spring
  • 1975 It's Only Love
  • 1977 Anytime…Anywhere
  • 1979 Satisfied
  • 1981 Heartbreak Radio
  • 1996 Out of the Blues
With The Crusaders
  • 1976 Free as the Wind
  • 1978 Images
  • 1980 Rhapsody and Blues
  • 1980 Standing Tall
  • 1984 Ghetto Blaster
  • 1986 The Good and the Bad Times
  • 2003 Rural Renewal
With Julia Fordham
  • 1991 Swept
  • 2002 Concrete Love
  • 2004 That's Life
  • 2005 That's Live
With Kenny Loggins
  • 1977 Celebrate Me Home
  • 1991 Leap of Faith
  • 1994 Return to Pooh Corner
  • 1997 The Unimaginable Life
  • 2000 More Songs from Pooh Corner
With Lyle Lovett
  • 1992 Joshua Judges Ruth
  • 1996 The Road to Ensenada
  • 1998 Step Inside This House
  • 2003 My Baby Don't Tolerate
  • 2003 Smile
  • 2007 It's Not Big It's Large
  • 2009 Natural Forces
  • 2012 Release Me
With The Manhattan Transfer
  • 1979 Extensions
  • 1981 Mecca for Moderns
  • 1995 Tonin
With Aaron Neville
  • 1991 Warm Your Heart
  • 1993 The Grand Tour
  • 1993 Aaron Neville's Soulfoul Christmas
  • 1995 The Tattooed Heart
  • 1997 ...To Make Me Who I Am
  • 2000 Devotion
  • 2003 Believe
  • 2005 Gospel Roots
With Madeleine Peyroux
  • 2004 Careless Love
  • 2006 Half the Perfect World
  • 2009 Bare Bones
  • 2013 The Blue Room
With Rebecca Pidgeon
  • 2005 Tough on Crime
  • 2008 Behind the Velvet Curtain: Songs from the Motion Picture Redbelt
  • 2012 Slingshot
With Joe Sample
  • 1978 Rainbow Seeker
  • 1979 Carmel
  • 1980 Voices in the Rain
  • 1982 The Hunter
  • 1983 Roles
  • 1985 Oasis
  • 1995 Old Places Old Faces
  • 1997 Sample This
  • 2002 The Pecan Tree
With Steely Dan
  • 1974 Pretzel Logic
  • 1975 Katy Lied
  • 1976 The Royal Scam
  • 1977 Aja
  • 2000 Two Against Nature
With others