Mel Parsons (born 21 October 1981) is an indie folk and alternative country singer/songwriter from New Zealand. Early life and education Parsons grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Cape Foulwind, near Westport, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Parsons started out playing piano, and also picked up the guitar at about 14, finally getting serious in seventh form (about age 17) when applying for the Nelson School of Music. After a year of music school, Parsons went overseas for a period, then returned to New Zealand to attend the University of Auckland, where she studied popular music and performance, along with history, anthropology and Spanish. Parsons has lived in various parts of the world. She spent a year close to the Atacama Desert in Chile, and two years in the Rocky Mountains in Canada. Early influences on Parsons were Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Mark Knopfler, The Police, Sinéad O'Connor, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Neil Diamond. Later influences were Tracy Chapman, Ray LaMontagne, Damien Rice, Gillian Welch, Ron Sexsmith, and The Shins. Career In 2007, Parsons returned to New Zealand to start work on her first album. The album was written by Parsons, and recorded with co-producer Shaun Elley and her backing band, The Rhythm Kings. The album Over My Shoulder was released in 2009. Parsons created her own label, Cape Road Recordings, releasing her album independently while using the New Zealand music firm Border Music for distribution. All of her albums have been released on her label. In 2011, Parsons released her second studio album, Red Grey Blue, featuring Anika Moa and Greg Johnson on harmonies, Bruce Lynch on double bass, and Don McGlashan on baritone horn, along with others. The album was recorded in Studio One, Boatshed Studios, and The Spare Room, in Auckland, New Zealand. Parsons recorded her third studio album, Drylands at Surgery Studios. The album was engineered by Lee Prebble who, along with mixing engineer Oliver Harmer, won the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards for best engineer for the album. One of the songs Parsons wrote was a duet, and she decided to cold e-mail Ron Sexsmith to see if he would perform the other half of the song "Don't Wait", and he agreed. Another song on the album, "Get Out Alive", is the result of her writing about a dangerous car accident she was in where