Musical Couple of the Southwest ~ Frank Fara & Patty Parker
It was a thousand to one shot - but it happened. The prestigious Wall Street Journal did a special front page story on the musical productions of Frank Fara and Patty Parker. And seemingly, to prove lightning can strike twice, the CNN Television network quickly followed up with their own feature on Patty Parker as one of Nashville's especially interesting female record producers. Overnight their music had been discovered!
But that's not where the story started. You have to go back to Los Angeles in the exciting 70's to find the beginnings of this uniquely gifted couple. Patty and Frank met at a music jam session and quickly found they shared a lot of creative energies. They decided to form their own band, honed their stage skills at a small bistro in Anaheim and then hooked up with an agent to get them on the road.
Within six months they were on the stage at Lake Tahoe and tapped into the exciting casino circuit. The exhilarating places and accommodating work hours left them daytime hours to work on original songs and productions. Frank began to write about the places they would visit and Patty assembled music productions around them to complete the recordings. Fans responded enthusiastically and soon they were regulars being invited back to perform their own original songs of local lore & beautiful places.
After five years of touring they decided to close their road show down to devote full time to their music and songs. TV personality Heidi Fogelsong, of ABC Channel 3 Phoenix, played an important part in getting them off to the right start from their home base in Arizona. She did a special entertainment feature on the debut of Frank's song & Patty's production of "Sedona Serenade". The song's debut held a great deal of show biz interest as the singer Jess Owen was the father of acclaimed movie star Clive Owen. The day the show aired the phones started ringing with requests by Sedona businesses and associations to use this new song on their websites and for copies to sell at the Sedona Heritage Museum. Sedona Serenade was soon heralded by town officials and locals alike as the first song to truly capture the essence of Sedona's Red Rock country.
Sedona Serenade has been professionally recorded on three separate occasions each with a distinctly different musical style: an easy　listening version by Jess Owen, a light Jazz version sung by producer Patty Parker and an Americana rendition by the song's author Frank Fara.
CD copies of Sedona Serenade are available on Frank Fara & Patty Parker's web site www.SedonaSerenade.com along with the official transcript of their presentation of Sedona Serenade to the Sedona City Council.