A Journey from Marketing to Music with David Parsons III (Part 2)

Welcome to the Legacy All Stars podcast. We feature inspirational stories from people who dedicate themselves to helping others. Here is your host, Alan Pavloski.

Welcome to the Legacy All Stars podcast where we talk to inspirational people making a difference in the lives of others. Alan, I'm your host, Alan Pavlosky. Today we are speaking with David Parsons iii, who has dedicated his life making a difference in the lives of others. He is a recording artist, an entrepreneur, a father, and an amazing friend to anyone who is fortunate enough to know him. Let's get on to the next question. David, what has been your proudest achievement or milestone so far?

I think I just came to terms with this like a week or two ago. It's been a really challenging year, losing my grandpa and he's the only entrepreneur and businessman in my, in my family and just really looking up to him. And he loved Maui and loved the islands and it was always his dream to move to Maui. He bought a place there but never actually made the full time jump. He got lung cancer and stuff and, and it's just been a tough year with like losing him. And we had our second child and, and she's awesome, but two kids under two is a lot of work. And then I got Covid and mono and I had mono for three. Alan, you and I talked a bunch of times in the middle of that. You were super helpful getting my brain wrapped around how to approach being a father and a businessman and taking care of myself at the same time and finding a healthy balance with all that, which I really appreciate. But I think this year has just been really challenging and I've done a lot of pondering on what am I proud of, like, what's my legacy right now. I think now that the storm of this year has kind of settled and passed, I've really thought a lot about, like, what's important to me and what my goals are moving forward. And I just feel like the thing that I'm most proud about is sitting in the front yard at sunset on my one night off and looking at my girls in the front yard with smiles on their face and my wife in a place of contentment and us being at a place of peace and knowing as a man. Like, I dealt with a lot of shit this year and I only missed three gigs the whole year despite having, you know, crazy fevers. And this is because my wife's a stay at home mom. That's what we always wanted with. So I wanted for the kids as long as she was willing and desiring to do that. So I think what I'm most proud about is I get to live in paradise on the island where a lot of people have had to move off because of inflation. And we have a place to call home. We still rent, but we have a place to call home. We got money in our savings account. And I know I've worked really hard and my wife has worked really hard for us to be in that place. And when we felt like quitting or giving up, like, we find we found a way to lean on each other, and we found a way to lean into it, to lean into the grind and to be okay with the suck. And I think that's what I'm most. Most proud of, like, is I'm playing music as a. Like, for a living. And, yeah, I play a lot of COVID songs, and a lot of musicians and artists don't want to do that. I don't care, because my. My family gets to live here, and I get to play music.

Yeah, you get to mix in your own. Your own material, and, yeah, totally get that exposure. I mean, missing three gigs during all that, man, that's playing hurt right there. Yeah.

Might not have been the smartest part, which. What we talked about. I think I.

Maybe not, but this tough you got, you definitely displayed toughness. Yeah.

Yeah, I think. I think that's a good word. I think realizing to do what you love and to make a real difference, you have to be mentally tough, and you got to be tried through fire. And not all people can do that. And I'm not trying to say that, like, to sound better than other people, but to know in my heart that I've risen to the challenge. Risen. Rose to the challenge of that when I need to, on behalf of my family, not. Not for myself. I mean, specifically, like, for my girls, my wife, to feel secure and to feel provided for. And that's. That's what I'm most proud of most definitely.

How has your work impacted the lives of others? Can you share a story that stands out to you about that?

Yeah, this kind of ties into one of the earlier questions that you had posed before, which are there. Have there been, like, pivotal moments in your career? And I certainly, playing music, have had some really cool moments, like, you know, playing for a fireworks show, fireworks shows at different military bases, and looking out and seeing 10,000 military personnel that are protecting the nation and putting their lives on the line and seeing their families and being able to play for those kind of experiences. And that's great, but I think for me, it's like These little micro moments when I'm playing music, some are to the benefit of other people and then some are of my own benefit. And I think one of those ones that really stands out is we are on Island. There's only one road that goes around the whole island. Right. It's just one highway and it's a two lane road, so there's traffic going both ways.

Been there. I love that about Kauai.

Yeah. And when I first moved here, there's like three stoplights on the whole island. There's 80,000 people on, I think 62,000 when I first moved here. 62,000 homes or something like that. But what I'm getting at is there's a lot of accidents and unfortunately a lot of those accidents because they're head on, are. Are people that pass away. And so one of those things in my music career that has always been an honor is being invited into people's personal lives when they have a memorial service or a funeral. And being invited as a stranger into that space and.

Finding empathy within myself to be able to bring the best of of my singing, but also being very conscious of like where they're at in a place of tenderness. And so I think like one of the moments that I've had where I felt like my work had most impacted somebody else's life is I had a family who asked me. He was 18 years old and he unfortunately died in a car accident on Island. And the family asked me to come play for them for the service and then for the reception after. And the mother couldn't bring herself to talk to me personally, which is totally understandable when we were talking about logistics for the funeral and stuff. And so the next one of the next of kin asked me to play a specific song requested by the mother. And it was a really hard song. I had never played it before, ended up learning how to play it. And they asked me to play it at a time where the eyes were not really on me. And it. Not that it ever should have been on me because the funeral was obviously not about me or anything. But I wasn't like on stage is what I'm trying to say. I was just background music at that point. And I started playing the song. Can I get emotional just thinking about it? But I started playing the song and everybody was still eating. It was during the reception time. And I look over at the mother, who I didn't know, and she looks at me just with tears in her eyes. And it was just like this moment that I shared with her from across the room and she just like mouthed thank you to me.

And I later came to find out that the night before he passed away, that was the song that him and her, him and the mother listened to together. And then he obviously suddenly and unexpectedly passed away the next night. And so, you know, I feel like as a musician so much has changed in what my goals and desires have been. I, you know, I think like a lot of young artists starting out, oh, I want to be on stage at Red Rocks or oh, I want to be, you know, at the Boston Coliseum. And sure, like those are cool. I would love to have those experiences and maybe those will happen one day. But I think something I learned about sitting the bench in baseball in college and when I realized like that wasn't my career path as much as I had wanted to be a professional baseball player for 18, 20 years of my life. I remember getting the winning hit against a team and it was one of my only at bats in game. And I remember sitting there thinking after that like I had worked so hard to get this chance to be in the game, actually live in a game. And I did it and I hit it and I drove the run in that won the game. But it didn't strike all the chords from my heart and I knew I could let go of baseball at that time and that there was something else out there. And then here I am like years later playing music at a reception and I have this human connection with somebody that I never saw again during a funeral.

And that hit everybody heart fulfillment that I had ever desired in a career. And so I guess like what I'm saying is like sometimes it's sometimes making a difference. Isn't what you originally planned or think is going to be the ultimate impact? And it might not be on some massive scale that you had originally planned for, you know, as a college student, but you realize like if you're just faithful to the process and you're faithful to doing every day, getting up and doing it again and getting a little bit better the next time that you do it every, like you have these moments of huge impact in people's lives. Yeah, I think the other big one which is more of a, was more of like a slap in the back of the head for me was like, wow, is I had with my other business, sometimes I have to work double. Not sometimes, most weeks, most days I work double shift. So I'll actually run the power washing crew on site in the hazmat suits with the team from 5 o' clock in the morning till 4 or 5 or 6, go home, change, tell my kids I love them and then get back on stage. And there's a lot of times where I don't feel, I don't feel like getting on stage. I don't feel like finding that deep place to sing from. I had one time, it was just a Tuesday night at a restaurant hotel and I was up there and I just was giving it everything I had. And it had been a long day in the sun, in the hazmat suit, two stories up, power washing.

And I, and I finish and I'm like, well, that was a disaster because I don't have any energy to give to the music. And I had this couple come up to me who was sitting in the back for the entire two hour set and he said, hey, I just wanted to say that your music really meant so much to us this evening. We really were moved by your music. And he said we wanted to personally say thank you, but we also wanted you to know before you see your Venmo tip that we did not make a mistake on the Venmo tip. It is what it is. And I said, okay. So I get home and it was $1,000 tip for singing. And I was like beside myself, like, are you kidding? And I even called him after, text him after because I got his number and I just said, are you sure you didn't add a zero there on accident? Because I've gotten a couple hundred dollar tips over the years. But to see a thousand dollar tips for singing, I think that was another moment where it just was like people don't put their money, hard earned money on the line unless they feel moved to do so. And I think that was very affirming. Not that I ever needed that, but it was very unexpected, very, very gracious of them and very affirming to me to keep doing like what I keep doing, what you're doing, in other words. And the musician. Life is a grind, man. It's no joke. It's definitely cutthroat. It was just one of those moments of like, wow, okay, I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep working at this.

With that in mind, there's a song that was inspired by challenges and got you a lot of exposure. Actually got a lot of airplay. And that's called Life is Jelly. And I'm going to ask you to just tell about the significance of that song before we break to it.

Yeah. So life is Jelly. The lyrics weren't necessarily. Whereas top down is very lyrically message driven and hopeful Driven and came out of a place of hardship. Life Is Jelly has no. Lyrically, it's just a love song. You know, it's a fun, whimsical love song, but it's actually one of the songs that's been most well received from me. And I wrote the song when my car broke down on the side of the road and on the island. No, there's like no tow truck service that comes within 45 minutes. It's always like six to eight hours later. Right. So I ended up writing the song and without a guitar and then on the ride home, asked the tow truck driver to drop me off on the one music spot guitar store. And I went in there and figured the chords out for it really quickly and recorded on my phone fast forward. It ends up getting played across the islands on a couple of larger radio stations. And then I've heard it through my streaming platform. I've seen that it's actually got radio spins in a bunch of different states across the west coast. So it was really cool because I ended up getting a phone call from John Mayers, former.

Artist of repertoire for A and M Records. And he had heard the song on radio and somehow found my number personally called me and asked me like, what. What my. What I was doing in music. And wow, this is a really well written song. And can I help you along? How can I help you? And it was just like this crazy, you know, know, kind of step. And then my favorite story about the Life is Jelly song is in 2019, I think it was, I started talking with a girl that was in Australia. After talking with her for a couple months, I just said, hey, I'd like to meet you in person. Let's see if there's still chemistry when we're in person. And so I flew down to Australia from Hawaii and met with her. And on day two, she's like, there is no spark for me. This relationship isn't going to continue. So I was like, I spent like three grand, right? Four grand to get down there for a week. She canceled all the plans that she had with. I was supposed to have dinner with her parents because I had met them a couple times through FaceTime and all that got canceled. So I'm now in Australia with no plans, no chauffeur, like nothing.

Like nothing.

So I'm feeling pretty down. And the one super touristy thing that I wanted to do while I was in Australia was I really wanted to climb the Sydney Bridge because I saw people doing that when I first was flying over the Sydney bridge. I was like, that was so cool. And so on the last day that I was there.

I get to the Sydney Bridge, I'm checking in and there's this whole check in process because they got to gear you up to hike to the top of the bridge and you got to lock in and wear all these harnesses and stuff. And I'm checked in and this huge three story building, this gift shop and everything. And I hear life is jelly, come on. And I think it's. I think it's in my pocket. So I. I pull my phone out of my pocket and I thought maybe it got started playing somehow on Spotify or something. And I look down at my phone, there's nothing playing. And I realize it's my song being played on radio in Sydney in a different country. And I had this steer, like this still little voice that just said, because I was really pondering, like, should I continue making music because it's really hard to do, to get a break or whatever. And I just had this quiet voice like, continue the path that you're on. Continue to make music. And it was just like this crazy moment of hearing my original song that I wrote recorded Waiting for a Tow Truck. It's now playing on a different, like in a different country.

That's amazing.

It was pretty wild. So that was a really cool. Like, it's just a fun, fun song. But. But yeah, kind of, kind of cool how those little.

Let's hear Life is Jelly by David Parsons iii.

Me crazy baby buttercup, you're beautiful through.

All these words are tangled up so wingman come and wish me luck and gentlemen it's time to bid you I do I said hey. That's quite the look you're giving to me. Hey got you picking my way you got me tongue twisted through the pain and butterflies are coming b think I'm being silly, it's true. Cause my palms are sweaty hot skinfetti limbs are feeling like spaghetti Life is pretty gentle with you.

So simmer down and take a seat darling Listen up to me bae, I think you're pretty cherry.

So Dave, thank you. I mean, this is. The songs are so. And yes, it's whimsical, but they just, they have a calmness and a Zen quality to them. So I really like that about your music.

I think that's the island, you know, I got. It's funny because I'm looking at the question that you pose about giving up and something that just occurred to me about that. That was my first ever radio song that hit radio.

And when I had been working on it in the studio for about four months after I wrote the song, trying to get it tweaked. And I was so excited because I got an opportunity to meet one of the top DJs that's on the islands. And I presented to him. And he got back to me about two, three days later, and he said, hey, cool song, but it needs this, this and that. And he said, we're not going to play it on the radio. And I said, okay, can I talk to you on the phone for just a couple minutes so that you can elaborate to me what this song is missing? So he gave me a checklist of things, and it cost me about $1,000 to come back and have those things added to it. Parts and electric guitar and remastered and all this stuff, right? And about seven, eight months later, I saw him walking into a conference, the same guy I hadn't talked to. And I had literally the day before gotten the updated version after about five or six months of saving and working and then putting more money toward fixing the song. And he stops and he comes up to me and he goes, david, didn't you share the song with me before? I said, yeah. He said, it's done. It has all the parts that. He said, it's got all the parts that I had asked for. I said, yeah, I really took to heart what you had said. And I went back to the drawing board and I fixed it. And he said, this is what we're playing during commute traffic tomorrow on prime time. And it was the next day that he played the song. So it's just funny because I was just thinking about that when I was listening to it, is I was feeling like giving up on that song. And I'm just glad that I didn't. You know, I think it's important for the younger generation to know, like, sometimes you just got to give it a little extra push. And it might take six or seven or eight months or a year or three years to get it over the finish line, but it's worth it.

Who inspires you as a role model on your journey?

That's an easy one. I think, first and foremost, my father. My father was elementary school teacher and taught third grade for 40 years. Taught a bunch of different grades, but that was his main one. My dad was. He was always there. He chose a job that specifically had very little income so that he could spend quality time with with my three brothers and I and my. And my mom. And I resented him for that for a long time. Because I felt like I couldn't connect with my dad on things that were interesting and important to me, which I've always been a business guy. Alan, that's why you and I, I think, really connected is I've always seen you as a mentor and somebody that's been in that world. That was always really attractive to me because my dad never brought that. He was a pension guy and, and he was a great teacher. He's an incredible teacher. But I always had a hard time connecting. And it wasn't until my later in my 20s, I'm 38 now, or 37 now. And it wasn't later until my, you know, my early 30s, late 20s, where I really, like, realized how much of an impact that had on my dad being present in my life. And that segues perfectly into my other mentor, which was.

This guy named Angel. When I was in college, I met a World War II vet that was a.

Combat guy in World War II, fought at Battle of the Bulge, went through Normandy. Super hardcore Hispanic American, like I am. And.

Gosh, the life stories that he taught me, him and I worked on a book together.

That.

Which is why I originally moved to the island, was to finish the book. Not quite there yet, but we're about two thirds of the way done. And you know, something he always told me was, if you want to make a difference in life, if you really, really want to make a difference, he would say this to me all the time, be the best father you can be. Be the best parent that you can be. He's like, that's what matters. That is how you make the biggest difference in this world, in this life, is be the best dad that you could be.

Wow. I relate to that for sure. Along those same lines, what advice would you give to someone who wants to make a difference but doesn't know where to start? Whether it's fatherhood or whether it's business or whether it's music, et cetera.

I think start with what. I mean, this sounds cliche, but start with what you have. You know, there's a really cool Bible story about. I won't get into it a whole lot, but like this miracle around like three fish and five loaves of bread and that turning into feeding thousands of people. And I relate to that story a lot because I think if we come to the table with what we have. When I wrote the first one of my first songs, right, that did well nationally, I used a, I think a hundred dollar microphone and the oldest version of GarageBand. And I figured it out. I Didn't know anything about recording. I didn't know anything about soundproofing and I didn't know. So I think for people that are just starting out, no matter what career it is or what art path or whatever industry you're in, like look at what you have and start with that. Bring your three loaves and your three fish and your five loaves of bread or whatever to the table. And then I think the other thing is tying back into baseball is be focused on incremental improvements every single day. What is one? I ask myself this every day. What is one thing I can do today on stage that can get me just a little bit better? Just one little step and try to look at that over all different parts of your job title or all different parts of your, you know, I'm a one stop shop here. So I have recording, I have. I'm the marketer, I'm the salesman, I'm the write all the contracts. And I think if you could just focus on incremental improvement today, what can. What is one thing I can put on a checklist today that makes me that much better than the people like my competition? Yeah, I think that those two things. Start with what you have. Focus on incremental improvements.

Let's play one more song. Tell me about the significance of Let Me Love youe.

Not my favorite song. This is the first song that I wrote and recorded that I just referenced. I wrote it, recorded it on a hundred dollar USB mic. And the amazing thing is I was a server at the time at a restaurant. And the significance is this song.

So I had this table that I served and about two, three days later they came back. They were not even in my section. I was not serving them. We had a slow day. So I walked over and I continued the conversation with this couple. And he had asked me the second time they came back, so why did you move to the island? I said I moved here to write a book and got distracted surfing. And now I've learned to play music and I'm kind of discovering, I love to try to write music. And he writes his email address down on a piece of napkin, on a napkin. And he says, hey, my name's David and here's my email. If you ever finish an original song, why don't you email it to me? Well, about six months later, I was cleaning out a cupboard in my desk and I come across this napkin and I was like, wow, I just finished this first song, I should email it to him. So I did. I emailed to him and Two weeks later, I was sitting in a. In a burger shop, little hole in the wall burger shop on the west side of Kauai, And I get an email from this guy. He says, david, I never told you this, but I'm the executive producer for NBCUniversal. I'm in charge of all the music for the NBA Finals and the World Series, and my team just voted on it. We'd love to use 56 seconds of your song as the theme song for the World Series. And also the San Francisco Giants Legends, which is the official documentary of the World Series that tells the story of the Giants. And I said, are you freaking kidding me? This is for real. And so that's why this song is important, is that, again, tying back into. Use what you have. Focus on incremental improvement and just give it all you got. Give everything that you got. This is the best. At the time, this was the best song I could write with the equipment that was available to me, and I had fun doing it. And just right place, right time ends up. And literally, like, two weeks after I got that email on the phone with New York's entertainment lawyer from NBC Universal and a guy I hired out of Palo Alto to be my representation. And I got a full document in front of me. It says, David Parsons, the third San Francisco Giants World Series.

It's like a whole contract.

And I'm like, still to this day.

They'Re playing the song going into commercials at the Giants games, which is just wild to me.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

So that's why I wanted you to play that song.

Yeah, here it is. Let me love you hey love, love.

Love.

Let me love you Let me love you.

Hey love, love, love.

Gonna.

Love you, gonna love you.

The thick and thin season Spin in and out again But I will love you for always loving.

Thicken fancies and spin in and out again that I have left you I've always loved you through the end all time.

I will love you I've always loved you through the end oh.

I will love you I've always loved you.

And things may burn Things may crash Things may fall.

All right, we're back with David Parsons. David, how can listeners get involved and support what you're doing?

You can go find me on all the streaming platforms. I'm on itunes, Spotify, all that stuff. YouTube. I think we're trying to build our YouTube channel right now, so probably be helpful to have people tag into that. But, yeah, I think just plug in and say hello. I try to answer all the DMs that I get? If you're on island while you're here, I'm off tour for for the last two years with the two kiddos under two. I got a seven month at this point and a two year old so life's pretty busy with that. But I play six nights a week. If you're on island on Kauai, hit me up on DM and I'll get back to you and give my schedule. Come say hello.

That'd be great. What's your biggest dream or goal for the impact you'd like to make?

I think front and center right here.

I think on my list is just having a permanent home for my family here on island. I think that's probably my biggest dream or goal right now because it's, it's very expensive to live here and to own here is. Is difficult. So that's a very elusive dream. But you know, we had the money for a house before COVID and then Covid prices just spiked everything. So I think that's it. And I think this, the second thing.

Would just be to continue to get.

Better at at my, you know, I think to continue to have opportunities to take my music to the next level in terms of like production like in Nashville. And.

I would really love to record there just to hear what some of my songs would be because right now I'm all self self produced. But to be able to hear like at that next level of polishedness and to work with those kind of people, I think that would be absolutely incredible experience. So that's been great.

Thank you David. I want to sincerely thank my guest, David Parsons iii. You can find his music on all streaming platforms or visit his website@davidparsonsii.com if you want to learn more about me and how I help others learn about leaving a legacy through passive income, visit me@Alan Pavlovsky.com and see you next time on the Legacy All Stars podcast.