Parker was a key figure in introducing the hammered dulcimer to the folk revival of the 1960s.
He appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, playing Golden Slippers and the Temperance Reel.
Players Guy Carawan and Sam Rizzetta[3] are among those who have said that Parker was the first person they heard play the hammered dulcimer.
In turn, Carawan would later influence younger players such as Malcolm Dalglish and John McCutcheon.
In the 1960s, Parker played dulcimer on summer Saturday afternoons at Winick's Driftwood Resort near Croton Dam, Michigan, accompanied by Killer Wade on guitar.