Cape & Islands News

The Parkington Sisters: five Cape originals

Cape Cod, still an artistic refuge

   The Parkington Sisters. Photo by Nate Miah Johnson.

By William DeSousa-Mauk

Cape Cod has consistently been an artistic refuge. In 2000, AmericanStyle magazine named Cape Cod its #1 Arts Destination in the Nation. In 1899 artist Charles W. Hawthorne founded the Cape Cod School of Art here, introducing near-derelict fishing town Provincetown to Greenwich Village intelligentsia. Other artists drawn to Cape Cod include Edward Hopper and Jackson Pollock. Eugene O’Neill’s first plays were written and produced here and screen stars are no strangers here—Marlon Brando, Richard Gere, Al Pacino, Bette Davis and others have performed on Cape Cod. A young Tennessee Williams, once an unknown alcoholic struggling to write plays, summered in P-town.  Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver and Mark Doty live here still as did Norman Mailer prior to his death in 2007. Artists of every discipline and ilk have lived and worked here, many still do.

Sibling songtresses

The Parkington Sisters on stage in Wareham earlier this year. According to all five siblings, it's the ocean that continues to inspire them. Photo by William DeSousa-Mauk.

Given the foregoing, small wonder the eponymous Parkington Sisters—five gregarious, charismatic, beautiful and talented sisters born and raised in Wellfleet (except Ariel, who was actually born in Missouri)—launched their career as a musical group on the streets and byways of Provincetown. Lydia (18-years-old) plays cello, guitar, and banjo; Rose (21-years-old) plays guitar, piano, and accordion; Nora (23-years-old) plays violin, guitar, and tambourine; Sarah (28-years-old) plays violin and guitar; and Ariel (30-years-old) plays violin and has two Master’s degrees. Rose and Lydia attend UMass Amherst where Rose majors in Sustainable Agriculture and Lydia is a cello performance major; Ariel teaches violin and viola in western Mass; Nora lives in Boston and is traveling with Winter Olympics Halfpipe Gold Medalist Hannah Teter this month; and Sarah lives in Manhattan’s trendy East Village where she is a freelance musician.

Talented parents

Some of the Cape’s great artists and artisans were born and raised here, allowing the Cape itself to seep into their psyche, endowing them with its special magic from childhood when little ones are at their most impressionable and malleable. With innate parental musical proclivities nurtured within Cape Cod’s benevolent terrain, the five sisters were guided by two extremely talented and musical parents; their talents were forged and annealed here. Each daughter was trained musically and played one or more musical instruments as young children. Mostly, all five sisters proclaim “It is the ocean which inspires us,” and, with 560 miles of seacoast encircling the peninsula, it remains clear why the sisters are so inspired.

"Under the radar"

Community Arts in Action
Editor's note: The writer met up with the Parkington Sisters at a benefit performance for CAIA in Wareham.
   
Community Arts in Action is a charitable Wareham-based organization—501 (c)3—whose primary mission is three-fold:
 - To present a variety of quality entertainments—in music, storytelling, drama, dance, literary programs—to Wareham and surrounding communities;
- To encourage inclusivity and community-building by making such programs available at a modest cost;
- To provide financial support for a local cultural entity or project that enhances the quality of community life.
    President Leie Carmody (right), a tireless and driven lady, attends most events and is very hands-on in selecting and retaining entertainment and technical staff, securing performance venues, producing the monthly program guide (including advertising), selling and taking tickets, organizing the performers, handling the marketing and public relations within the community it serves, managing photographers and, although there is an active board and volunteers, Leie seems to manage all the details of the organization with aplomb and seamlessly.
   Through the organization’s series of performances, the community has come together for excellent entertainment, fellowship and to support various organizations in greater Wareham. Proceeds of performances support a variety of programs and beneficiaries have included Wareham Free Library and Wareham Council on Aging and Social Services. Community Arts in Action will consider proposals from other local entities or groups seeking limited financial assistance for projects enhancing the quality of community life.
   Organizations interested in making a proposal to CAIA for financial assistance should telephone Leie Carmody at 508-295-0164 or, by e-mail, to info@warehamarts.org. Click here for a list of upcoming performances.
Individuals wishing to volunteer may do so by writing volunteers@warehamarts.org; for tickets, write tickets@warehamsarts.org. Sponsorship information is available by writing sponsors@warehamarts.org.

The issue of Cheryl and Dani Parkington of Wellfleet, daughters Ariel, Sarah, Nora, Rose, and Lydia are more than sisters, they are soul sisters. Their heady music touches deep in the soul’s core; it grabs listeners from the first bar and does not release until they are taking their bows. Paterfamilias Dani Parkington says his daughters were nurtured in an environment of contemporary Americana music influenced mightily by such luminous musicians, singers and songwriters as Joan Baez, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell and Aretha Franklin; French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and prominent contemporary bassist and composer Edgar Meyer. The sisters’ mother, Cheryl Parkington, is a member of a celebrated lower Cape American string band, The Higher Ground. She nurtured her daughters in the folk tradition. Their father, Dani Parkington, who plays strings and percussion instruments, classifies himself as a ‘world musician’ and studies and plays eastern music, in particular. On family road trips, the car was always a rolling concert; attending concerts and listening to avant-garde classical music was standard family fare. All five sisters agree that their parents and family were the most influential factors in their collective and individual musical evolutions. The women enjoy the group’s ‘under the radar’ status and, in fact, The Parkington Sisters were acclaimed a best ‘Under the Radar’ group by American Songwriter magazine.

From a duo on Commercial

The original duo comprised Sarah and Rose captivating passersby about seven years along Commercial Street. So much did the pair enjoy performing, they soon entreated the three remaining siblings to join in and, within a couple of years, Ariel, Lydia, and Nora were also toting guitars, violins, cellos, banjos, mandolins, accordions and tambourines and the group was born.

Acoustic-indie-folk with classical roots

There is a special bond, a tacit understanding and empathic resonance these five beautiful and richly-talented sisters emanate.  It is palpable … their sonorous music and lyrics cannot fail to impress. At first, one feels as if he or she has wandered into a chamber music concert, until the gentle strains of the guitar, mandolin, accordion or banjo blend seamlessly creating a mélange of sound. Self-describing their style as acoustic, indie, folk with classical roots one must listen closely and then readily identify the diverse influences which color and influence their music. While each woman is both a musician and a songwriter, The Parkington Sisters always comprises all five sisters as a group. Sarah and Ariel are both professional violinists who, between them, have performed with symphonies, chamber groups and bands across the country. The other three sisters also play individually in different venues and settings.

The Parkington Sisters "Chains", for others click here.

A return to Cape Cod

Each of the sisters returns to her beloved Cape Cod each summer, where they are always inspired to write and perform. On Cape, they play at local festivals, on village greens and libraries as well as concerts for charitable causes. And what of the future? At present, the relatively noncommittal commitment to “keep writing music and growing and developing” represents the best oracular prediction for the five sisters, collectively and individually. The Sisters are currently working to release their first music CD which they hope will occur during summer 2010.

The Parkington Sisters will appear with Livingston Taylor Sunday, February 14th at 3pm at the First Congregational Church on Main Street in Wellfleet for a Payomet Performing Arts Center benefit.

Visit the Parkington Sisters' website for upcoming dates and to listen to their music.

Bill DeSousa-Mauk, born in Manhattan and raised on Long Island, is a principal in Michael Patrick Communications, Ltd., a tourism PR firm based in Hyannis, which handles PR for Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. He is also a freelance writer for Boston Spirit Magazine, Global Traveler and other publications. He has lived on Cape Cod for 20 years and loves exploring and finding the Cape’s never-ending nooks, crannies and bejeweled morsels to explore and savor. Between explorations in and around Cape Cod, he is always off exploring the wider world, particularly Hawaii (seven visits), Mexico, the Caribbean (almost every island) and Germany, (he is a fluent German speaker). But all trips must come to an end and, regardless where travels take him, he breathes a deep sigh when crossing the Bridge to his beloved Cape Cod. DeSousa-Mauk’s love of travel naturally led him to a career in tourism and his bags (and his husband Troy’s) are always packed for the next adventure.