Most bands have one drummer but not all drummers have one band.
Such is the case of Parker DeWitt, a contracting drummer and feature in such notable bands as Hootie and the Blowfish and The Revivalists.
Hootie isn’t DeWitt's only tie to South Carolina. Born and raised in Florence, South Carolina, he said the South has shaped him when it comes to music. He's also very fond of Athens, Georgia, where his favorite band since he was 12 years old, Widespread Panic, was born.
Now, DeWitt is busy touring with the Blue Dogs, who will be playing at Music Farm Columbia this Saturday at 8 p.m.
DeWitt's father introduced him to what he calls “cool older bands” like Steely Dan and the BeeGees. DeWitt said it was “real fortunate for me to get into music at a young age,” even if he didn’t “realize it at the time.”
DeWitt first started playing in various garage bands in high school that mainly covered Widespread Panic and Phish. They would play at birthday parties before getting their big break at the Midnight Rooster in Hartsville, South Carolina where DeWitt didn’t even use a drum kit.
“I actually played the congas,” he said.
DeWitt’s style has blended and evolved over the years — it was initially bluegrass and then into jam bands, but DeWitt more recently has been delving into genres like Caribbean, funk and jazz.
In high school and at the beginning of his college career, DeWitt began touring with Machine Funk, one of the most well-known Widespread Panic tribute bands in the country. From there, DeWitt got an unorthodox big break.
“I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Speed Channel, but they were holding this event called 'Bands of Nascar' where we played on the racetracks and toured around,” he said. “Still gets me work today.”
Shortly thereafter, he went back to school in 2013 in New York City, where he received a degree in music and a teaching certificate at the Collective School of Music.
DeWitt then started working with the Blue Dogs, an Americana band from his hometown, Florence.
“They hit me up … and I’ve been recording with them for the past year in Charleston,” he said.
Of course, being a contracting musician is thrilling and exciting, but there are some cons to working as an individual artist, DeWitt said. You aren’t tied down to any group in particular, but you can’t choose what you want to play and you have to learn music on the fly — literally.
“Sometimes you have to learn it on the plane ride flying in,” he said.
DeWitt has worked with many bands, and there are still some percussionists he would still love to collaborate with, like James McMurtry — he would “love to just sit down and work with him in songwriting” — and Jason Isbell.