Acadia is a folk rock band based around the songs of Bryan Parker. Parker began writing songs in the summer of 2000, putting simple chord progressions to a few of his old poems. After a considerably long series of bedroom recordings under various project identities, which were distributed mostly among friends, Parker wanted to move the project to a higher level and adopted the moniker Acadia. Thereafter, only a handful of sporadic shows were played over the span of a year. Then, in the Winter of 2005, Parker met drummer Adam Schragin through a project related to the music industry. The two's ideas about and visions for music were perfect compliments and Acadia began to come together as a band. Though most of the songs are simple and stripped down, the band is occasionally backed by the vocals of Laura White or Accordion played by Stephanie Gordon. With influences from Bob Dylan to Xiu Xiu, Nick Drake to the Mountain Goats, Parker's vocals are off kilter, but warm, and always honest. The vocals and simple chord progressions give Acadia a straightforward sound, but prove themselves with nuances that surface after repeated listening. The songs are often stories about fictional or semi-fictional people that Parker fails to use as examples for morality or meaning, leaving the interpretation of purpose to the listener. With attention to detail, the songs flow from vivid portrayals of hard to forget events to fragments of conversation through excellent songwriting.
The name Acadia comes from the street on which Parker's grandmother resides in East Texas in an area near his hometown of Longview. Parker was born and raised in Longview but has been living in Austin for the last half of a decade and now calls it home. Schragin hails from San Antonio, but settled in Austin after attending college where he works while practicing his loves of writing and playing music.
