‘A More Joyful Relationship With Music’: Graham Parsons, at right, of The Go Rounds. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
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Amid the twists and turns of a rock ‘n’ roll life – and especially after the “really weird” fallout from the 2020 COVID pandemic – Graham Parsons pondered whether The Go Rounds would survive.
“There have been many times where I felt like this project had lost its life force, many times when we questioned the whole path,” he said of the distinctive psychedelic-tinged rock, folk and pop band he formed in Kalamazoo with Andy Catlin back in 2009.
“It’s not uncommon at all amongst people trying to make music and performance a primary part of their livelihood and day-to-day. Specifically, I think there was a 3- to 4-month period in 2022 where it felt like The Go Rounds might go away for good. But it didn’t take long to understand that the project could always exist in some capacity or another. The music exists and lives on to be shared.”
But 2025 has seen The Go Rounds building momentum again.
The Band: The Go Rounds’ 2025 lineup. (Courtesy Photo)
The group released a long-awaited studio album, “Donut,” in March, has toured regularly across the state with a high-profile appearance next month at the Wheatland Music Festival, and will soon return to the recording studio, not only for a full band project but a Graham Parsons solo record, too.
“We’re definitely going to play some more shows, and I really want to record this album with them, with this new quartet, these songs that we’ve sort of worked up together. It’s a really special, a different gear for The Go Rounds,” Parsons said.
“It’s definitely more mellow, but beautiful and so sensitive and really dynamic and nice. And then, yeah, I want to do a solo album of songs, things that I’ve written since 2020 that are ultra mellow and that really wouldn’t fit in The Go Rounds project.”
That new quartet – singer, guitarist and keyboardist Parsons, bassist Drew Tyner, drummer Sam Woldenberg and keyboardist Charlie Millard – has several shows in the offing over the next month, including Short’s Brewing in Bellaire on Sunday (Aug. 31), two shows in the Upper Peninsula, and appearances Sept. 27 at Leelanau Uncaged in Leelanau and Sept. 28 at the Sounds of the Zoo festival in Kalamazoo.
But Parsons says band members are particularly excited about their 10 p.m. Friday (Sept. 5) performance on the Centennial Stage at Wheatland Music Festival in Remus. The group plans to add acclaimed Michigan musicians and singers Samantha Cooper and Elisabeth Pixley-Fink as special guests for their late-night set at the iconic, long-running Michigan festival.
The Go Rounds have played Wheatland once before, about 10 years ago, and Parsons said the band still has fans approaching them at shows to recount their experiences from that special set.
“All these festivals have closed (but) Wheatland has remained … just as this unshakeable force within the scene. It’s so traditional and I’m kind of surprised we’re playing it again, but maybe that speaks to where our music has evolved and revolved back to maybe its more essential components and the songs and roots of it, and just presenting it in a way that’s a little less challenging, a little more joyful.”
Get more information about Wheatland with the full schedule and ticket information online here.
LISTEN: The Go Rounds, “Harpees” (from “Donut”)
ROOM FOR NEW SONGS, FOCUSED ON ‘THE CREATIVE ELEMENT OF IT’
That joyful approach also describes the music on “Donut,” which got “totally derailed” by the pandemic before the band finally finished the project and released it earlier this year. Recorded at High Bias in Detroit with Chris Koltay and at Dream Louder in Toledo with Ben Cohen, the songs on the album were originally “honed” at live shows and represent “the height of our collective, creative powers and our writing process.”
“It was so good for my brain and my mental capacity to just release that music, because it was just swimming around in there for so long,” said Parsons, who started his first band in seventh grade and co-founded The Go Rounds after forgoing his senior year at Western Michigan University. “Now I have room for new songs.”
Indeed, it feels like a new era for The Go Rounds, a renewed musical adventure.
The Gio Rounds: Revving up the crowd at last week’s Return to the River Festival in Grand Rapids. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
“So finally, I feel like we got our footing back after five years of just a lot of insecurity and a lot of inconsistency and a lot of just trusting that things would fall back into place,” Parsons said.
“So much has happened and we’ve all changed in so many ways, but also it feels like I’m in the exact same place I was when I was 20 years old and just still really excited about songs and performing for people. And like I said, I just have a much healthier, more joyful relationship with music these days. It’s a lot lighter, it’s a lot less serious, and it’s a lot less focused on career and more focused on the creative element of it. So it feels really good.”
This week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase spotlighted two tracks from “Donut” – “Cookie” and “Diamond.” The radio show also featured music from The Nuance, Chloe Kimes, Spuddies, i.am.james., Brian Koenigsknecht, Sean Anthony Sullivan and the Paxton/Spangler Band. Listen to the interview — including Parsons’ recounting of the full history of The Go Rounds — and full radio show podcast below.
The Michigan Music Showcase airs at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and on Interlochen Public Radio at 7 p.m. Saturdays.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase (8/29/25)
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