The numbers on Spotify tell a clear story: With over 40 million streams, “As We Ran” is, by a long shot, The National Parks’ biggest song.
Since releasing the indie-folk track over a decade ago, the band is used to seeing the song hold the No. 1 spot in their popular section. They’ve never had another original song top that one.
Until now.
In just a couple of weeks, their new song “Honeybee” from their latest album has risen to the top.
“It’s grown so big so fast,” lead singer Brady Parks recently told the Deseret News on a Zoom call. “It’s been really fun to see how that song has connected with so many people from all over the place.”
Perhaps the wildest part of the dethroning, though, is that “Honeybee” — which was the first song written for the album — almost didn’t even make the cut. Brady Parks and his wife and bandmate Megan Taylor Parks have their kids, ages 4 and 2, to thank for its inclusion.
“We always loved it, but for some reason, we didn’t know if it was gonna make the album or not,” Parks said. “The thing that really did it for us is every time we’d get in the car, our kids would ask to hear it — over and over again. They just wanted to hear ‘Honeybee.’ And so towards the end of the writing process, we decided to leave it on there for the kids.”
Now, the Utah-based band is benefiting from their kids’ insistence. In a short amount of time, the song has become a staple — including during a recent milestone performance at the Grand Ole Opry and an upcoming hometown show at Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden.
Ahead of the Red Butte show on Thursday, the Deseret News caught up with The National Parks about balancing their family and career, making a major debut in Nashville and how the band’s recent transition to a duo affects their creative process and music going forward.
‘Wherever life was happening, the music was happening, too’
Raising two kids while continuing their music careers is a balancing act the Parks said they’re “constantly figuring out.”
It often means late nights and early mornings. They’ll usually do their songwriting once the kids are in bed. They have a studio shed in their backyard that has become a haven of sorts.
“We just go into the studio and work for hours and kind of just get lost in the process of creating together,” Brady Parks said. “It was really a cathartic, healing process to write this album together.”
But, of course, the inspiration doesn’t always wait to strike when they’re in the studio. Sometimes, Parks said, it’s wafted into the kitchen while cooking dinner, or while they’re in the car with their kids running errands.
“It’s kind of like wherever life was happening, the music was happening, too,” he said.
They’ve taken their kids on the road over the years — Parks doesn’t wholeheartedly recommend having an 8-week-old and 2-year-old on a tour bus — and they also have “an incredible support system at home,” the singer said.
And that network of support recently came together at the Grand Ole Opry to cheer on The National Parks in what they call “the greatest honor” of their careers.
A Grand Ole Opry debut
The National Parks were shocked to get the invite.
A forwarded email came in from their manager, inviting them to perform at the esteemed Nashville venue more than 1,000 miles away from their Utah home.
“I’m not much of a crier, and I just sobbed,” Parks said. “It was like the happiest moment. And it’s come after a really challenging year. And so being able to have that email come through, it was just the best day.”
The band’s milestone performance came on Aug. 1 — in the middle of a busy four-week period that included receiving the Utah Governor’s Mansion Artist Award from Gov. Spencer Cox and releasing their self-titled album.
They had some nerves in Nashville, primarily because they’d never played with a backing band before. Their rehearsal wasn’t until soundcheck, and they ran through the songs just once.
And then it was showtime.
“We took the stage and it was the most surreal moment,” Parks said. “I feel like a lot of times when you’re performing, something is going wrong or there’s something that draws your attention away from just living in the moment. And this is one of those times where it was just 100% in the moment, enjoying it, being able to soak it in while you’re doing it.”
The band had originally planned on playing two songs, “As We Ran” and a new track, “Sure Thing.” But as the big day drew near, they were told they could add in a third number.
They didn’t have to think too hard about their decision — in many ways, their kids had already made it for them. So “Honeybee” got added in. And roughly 30 family members came from all across the country to hear the performance.
“We felt like we gave everything, and it ended up being the perfect night, just something we’ll never forget. We’re still on cloud nine,” Parks said. “We’re like, ‘No matter what happens, we’ve played the Grand Ole Opry.’”
‘We love being a band from Utah’
Now, The National Parks are getting ready for another special venue debut.
As a band proud of their Utah roots — Parks was wearing a Salt Lake Bees cap during the interview — they’ve embraced the state’s scenic views. They’ve performed at several outdoor venues, including the Sandy Amphitheater and against the red rock backdrop of Tuacahn.
But Red Butte Garden, nestled in the foothills above Salt Lake City, marks a first for the band.
“I think our music is just really meant for wide-open spaces like that — nothing tops that,” Parks said. “And being a hometown Utah show just makes it even more special, just makes me feel really excited to be in that environment with our hometown crowd. We love being a band from Utah.”
The show comes nearly a year since The National Parks announced a major shake-up with the departure of founding members Sydney Macfarlane and Cam Brannelly. Transitioning from a four-piece band to a duo after all these years has inherently changed The National Parks’ creative process and sound.
“With the changes we’ve gone through, me and Megan have kind of just leaned in together writing for the first time ever,” Parks said, noting that he used to mainly present songs to the band as the primary songwriter. “She’s always been the first person I would share a song with, or she’d give input, but now she’s full-on writing. And that has just been the greatest joy of making music. It’s so much fun to do that together, and she’s so naturally gifted at it.”
Their sound has shifted, too, veering a little more into the country lane — a move that has been at least partly inspired by Parks’ return to the music of his upbringing with 1970s folk rock like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and CCR.
“It’s still very much our folk-pop sound, but with a little bit more kind of country influence,” the singer-songwriter said. “It just felt like a really natural progression to get there.”
But perhaps their biggest takeaway from releasing their first album as a duo — and one that will continue to influence their future releases — comes from two unofficial members of the band who have a front-row seat to it all.
“You gotta trust your kids’ judgment,” Parks said. “They know. They can sense it. We kind of made this joke that if ‘Honeybee’ goes to our No. 1 song on Spotify, then we’re going to take the kids to Disneyland. Did not expect it to go that quick. So I guess we gotta go to Disneyland.”