Premiere: Katrina Parker sends a ‘Ring of Fire’ crashing into WestWorld

Quite the storied history, “Ring of Fire” is one of the most unconventional country classics of our time. It was originally recorded by The Carter Family in 1962 with a more folksy arrangement; Anita Carter included her own version on her Folk Songs Old and New album. A year later, outlaw man Johnny Cash gave the production a mariachi overhaul, digging into the ominous texture of the music for a career-defining performance. It became a blockbuster No. 1 hit, perching atop the charts for seven weeks. Where June Carter Cash and co-writer Merle Kilgore allege the song was inspired by a line in a book of poetry owned by A.P. Carter, Johnny Cash’s first wife Vivian Liberto claims a totally different (and far more drug-induced and sexual) narrative. Regardless of its exact origins, “Ring of Fire” has become one of the most covered songs in history; everyone from Olivia Newton-John to Madonna and Adam Lambert has updated the enduring hit with their own delicate, artistically-woven spins.

Now, Katrina Parker, of The Voice Season 2 fame, tosses her proverbial hat into the ring with a rhythmically-sinister rendition. “I originally envisioned this as a more traditional Americana cover, but it ended up taking a darker, more dramatic turn. My producer describes it as ‘Westworld meets Deadwood meets The Andrews Sisters.’ I can’t say I disagree,” she writes to B-Sides & Badlands, premiering the track today, over email. Producer Josh Doyle leans heavily into the playfully ghoulish undertones, peeling back polished shimmer for a devilish performance that is raw, visceral and totally unexpected.

In the aftermath of her eighth place finish on the popular singing show, Parker issued an album called In & Out of the Dark. Soon, however, the spotlight bore down upon her, and she took a step back to reexamine why she made art in the beginning. Originally from rural North Carolina, later sojourning to Los Angeles as many upstarts do, Parker’s vocals call to the Nashville Sound in glistening waves, and so, she fuses that old school starlight into a contemporary filter. Her cut of “Ring of Fire” pushes the stylistic envelope, and while it certainly adheres to the country & western template, it is fueled with modern torch balladeering that hints to Adele and Lana Del Rey. But below the surface, her own signature brand slithers and quakes in the dirt for astonishing display of lovestruck hypnotics.

“I fell into a burning ring of fire,” she wraps her voice around the melody, only stark piano dancing behind her. Then, the rumbling of percussion storms in like a death march, “I went down, down, down / And the flames went higher / And it burns, burns, burns the ring of fire…” Her heart is weighted, scorched in place, and her voice rises as the smoke from a ruinous habitation, tapping into the primal ache that we so often bury deep in our chests. Snakes rattle, tumbleweeds toss across the barren wasteland, and Parker emerges as an enchanting musical chameleon.

Parker’s “Ring of Fire” is another sample to her new album, Stars, out everywhere September 6.

Listen below:

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