Parmenter, Davis Album Release Concert Tonight

On Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. singer-songwriters Molly Parmenter and Shannon Davis will perform at Cape Cinema in Dennis. Each will perform a full set of songs from their respective new albums, accompanied by a full band.

Parmenter combines pure, dreamy vocals with a smooth, percussive guitar technique and a natural and intimate lyrical style, to deliver songs of love and loss with equal parts sincerity and grit. She will perform songs from her album, “Gladly.”

Davis’s haunting vocal melodies and lyrical prose paint a vivid picture in the mind of the listener, telling powerful stories of desire, darkness, and hope. She will perform songs from her album, “Tell Me a Story.”

Parmenter and Davis will be backed by a full band consisting of their producer Jon Evans on bass, David Ellis on drums, Rich Hill on keys, Tom Davis on guitar, Pat McDonough on guitar with Catie Flynn providing background vocals. Katie Cooke will play violin on one of Davis’ songs.

Born and raised on the Cape, Parmenter is originally from Barnstable and has played music on the Cape for years. “Gladly” is her second full album release. Soon after her father began teaching her guitar as a teenager, Parmenter was composing her own songs, swiftly combining her love of writing with a newfound connection to music and the solace she found in the words and emotions of female singer-songwriters like Ani Difranco, Chan Marshall, Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, and Jenny Lewis. Drawing inspiration from classic soul music like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Al Green, as well as traditional singer-songwriters and pioneers of folk such as Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, Parmenter found a voice all her own.
 Davis’ latest release and debut album, “Tell Me a Story,” produced and recorded by Grammy-nominated producer Evans, was released in October. In 2021, Davis’ song, “When We Were Kids,” from her EP “May You Always See a Light” won a grand prize from the Eventide New England Songwriting Contest.

“We’re really excited to play,” said Davis, who is originally from Harwich and now resides in Brewster. “I grew up on the Cape. I was born and raised here, but I was away for 10 years.”

Davis briefly lived in California and in Oregon, where she earned a degree in biology and worked as an entomology technician. She has been to nearly all of the United States and several other countries, including Madagascar, where she spent 2016 to 2018 working with the Peace Corps. Throughout all of her travels, she said, she never found another place quite like home.

“When you finally come home, at least for me, I keep saying I feel like an endemic creature,” Davis said, referring to species which can only exist in certain habitats. “There’s just something in the air. We are lucky to live here.” Doors will open at 6, with the concert starting at 7 p.m. Free stickers will be available at the performance, and CDs and other merchandise will be available for purchase. For more information on Molly Parmenter and Shannon Davis, including social media links and access to streaming music, visit www.mollyparmenter.com and www.shannondavismusic.com.