Talk with....Meghan Parnall  (Bywater Call)

photo by: Bywater Call

As part of their 2025 European fall tour, I met Bywater Call frontwoman Meghan Parnell for a conversation about the band’s latest album, her musical journey, and other musical topics.

rockfrank: Karma question: What are the first three things that come to your mind when you think of Germany?

Meghan Parnell: Great audiences and venues – warm, kind and supportive.  Amazing hotel breakfasts. Beautiful scenery.

rockfrank: At what point did you realize you wanted to become a musician?

Meghan Parnell: I’ve always Identified as a singer, for as long as I can remember.  When I was younger, I was really into musical theatre and wanted to be on Broadway.  That thought probably started around the age of 10, but I didn’t pursue it very hard.  Then I got the opportunity to sing in a couple of cover bands, and at the point I knew fronting a band was what I wanted.

rockfrank: Your voice has a distinctive, dark timbre. How much do you use your voice as an instrument?

Meghan Parnell: I’m definitely conscious of the tone in my voice, it’s import to me that it comes across as rich, passionate, emotive, powerful … but it’s all very instinctual for me.  If you asked me how I control it, I’m not sure I could describe it to you.  I do know that the bit of a rasp I have came by way of me losing my voice years and years ago when I first starting gigging professionally.  I went from doing 1-2 nights a week for a brief time, to 6 nights a week in a smoky bar in Morocco.

rockfrank: Your band is part of the tradition of great Canadian musicians like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, who shaped the international music scene. Do you feel inspired or rather pressured by this legacy when writing songs?

Meghan Parnell: Oooo – that’s very flattering, to be mentioned in the same sentence as those artists.  I would say inspired ... so many great artsist have come from Canada and that’s very encouraging.  The Band is a big one for us – everyone was Canadian in The Band except Levon and they had such an amazing, distinctive, warm sound.

rockfrank: Your songs sound like a plea for love and humanity – at times melancholic, occasionally political, like in "Falls Away." What kind of messages do you want to send through your music?

Meghan Parnell: I think most of all we want people to bring their own experience to our songs.  We want our audiences to feel something.  We want them to go on a journey with us ... even though everyone’s journey might be a little different, we can all be in it together.

photo by: Warren Bodnaruk

rockfrank: On “Shepherd”, your latest studio album, there are some brilliant horn sections featured in a number of tracks. What inspired you to bring horns into your rhythmic range?

Meghan Parnell: We always knew we wanted horns involved in our sound – inspirations like Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones informed that for us.  So, as soon as we got our first festival slot, we took it as an opportunity to add a horn section and we’ve never looked back.

rockfrank: The cover shows an abandoned farm under a gloomy sky — to me, it feels calming despite the mood. Is there a connection to the music on Shepherd?

Meghan Parnell: Yes – Shepherd was the first album we did on our own as a band – we engineered, mixed and released it all within our band members.  This felt freeing (the calm), but a little lonley and intimidating as well.  The cover was also inspired by the lyrics for Colours, which inspired the title of the album “The shepherd with none of her sheep”.

rockfrank: In the summer, you performed a radio concert for Deutschlandfunk in Cologne. Was it a special experience for you to play in a broadcast studio?

Meghan Parnell: That was a wonderful show.  Great sounding room, amazing audience.  That’s one we’ll remember for a long time to come.

rockfrank: “Music was my first love” — John Miles couldn’t have put it in better word in his hit song back then. Which band or artist was your first passion?

Meghan Parnell: Maybe Judy Garland.  I was obsessed with her in The Wizard of Oz when I was very young.  And I was sitting on the swing set in my backyard and sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” over and over.

rockfrank: Which singer would you like to stand on stage with and perform a song?

Meghan Parnell: Oh there are far too many to list … but right now I would LOVE to sing with Grace Potter or Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes. Talented, inspiring women who I think would also be a lot of fun!

rockfrank: Thank you for the insightful interview, and I wish you and the band all the best for your musical future.

photo by: Erin Cosentino