A native of Texas, Parker played in the Western swing bands The Wanderers (1935) and the Light Crust Doughboys (1937–39)[2] before serving in the military during World War II.
[1] He became an English professor at Kentucky Wesleyan College and the University of South Florida.
[4][5] On the side, he played piano with Tony Parenti, Omer Simeon and Doc Evans.
[1] He recorded albums for Euphonic, GHB, Jazzology, London, Progressive, Paradox, Audiophile and Texstar.
At Audiophile, he was one of the first to record all known ragtime pieces by Scott Joplin,[1] excluding "The Silver Swan", which was not discovered at that point.