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Parker Thomas Smythe (born September 25, 1996), better known by his moniker, Tennessee Kid, is a mixed genre singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and visual artist from Nashville, Tennessee.

His discography contains 15 albums, two singles playlists, eight music videos, and a movie soundtrack with accompaniments from Warren Smythe and Nick Young. He initially used the name Tennessee Kid for rap music but later found it more fitting as a folk artist. Smythe has written and performed songs all his life, but it wasn’t until his brother gave him a microphone for Christmas that he started creating his first demo albums.

Early/Personal Life
Smythe is from Tennessee, the home of Johnny Cash and Justin Timberlake. He draws a lot of his inspiration from his brother Warren and Sufjan Stevens. His brother is a cinematographer, set designer, and owner of Warren Studios in Nashville. His father and mother are both Christian business owners. Smythe attended Middle Tennessee State University and Northumbria University in England, where he studied criminal justice administration and psychology. Also, this period served to further educate Smythe’s fitness knowledge where he took part in two bodybuilding shows (Music City Muscle, Flex Lewis Classic). He won first place trophies and soon after competed in the Murfreesboro Half Marathon. After this he went on to study abroad in Russia and England to continue his degree in criminal justice.

Despite all that to further challenge himself, Smythe decided to become a foreign language English teacher when he accepted the Fulbright award serving under the Department of State he was stationed in Silistra, Bulgaria where he released his first songs to Soundcloud that would eventually form into his first debut rap album called Reckless. He was later interviewed by his home University, MTSU, stating how he discovered music. Smythe talks about finding music in an interview for his Alma Mater: “I am working on music. Making music and getting better in that. […] I went from not doing music at all to it being a big part of my life.” Additionally, during and after his work in Bulgaria he spent nearly 5 years traveling and living internationally to places like the United Kingdom, Russia, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria and later finally decided to stay in Morocco and create 9 different albums in 2 years. Smythe currently resides in Nashville with his brother, mother, and Father.

Tennessee Kid
Releasing his first debut album “Reckless” as Tennessee Kid in 2020, he soon became acquainted with mixing and mastering his own albums under his label “Tennessee Kid”. From this album came two rap music videos, “Run and Gun” and “Problems” both of which are heavily ladened with profanity and have a brash punk style. He soon after performed in two concerts in Sofia, Bulgaria under the supervision of Fulbright Bulgaria. Transitioning from rap to guitar style music he quickly produced a slew of albums which combined guitar and electronic beats. Different instruments can be heard throughout his work such as the banjo, ukulele, flute, harmonica, mandolin, piano, drums, synths and various other homemade instruments like spoons and shakers.

Although, despite his new interest in acoustic sounds Tennessee Kid created two albums that are mostly electronic/rap titled Simpleton Kid and Simpleton Kid 2. These albums focus on simple beats and thought-provoking lyrics about being a nobody with something to say. Three music videos came from these albums of which are “watch it go with me”, “did you ever think we would get this far?”, and “i love you sadness” which express heart break, pain and love. Shortly after this, he created an album that took 16 hours called “Left in Deception” that talked about feeling deceived from emotions, love, and God. Mainly using guitar and beat loops it was upbeat and experimental.

Finding his voice as a singer/songwriter, Smythe started to experiment with new sounds and ideas. “Letter to the Universe” provides listeners with an ethereal ensemble of songs devoted to finding the reason of life, death, and aliens. The music video for this album includes; various VHS YouTube footage of nature and war to try and give meaning to the universe's cruelty and beauty. It was here that Tennessee Kid would discover his experimental folk style and cement his vision as a folk artist. The albums “Tiny Song of Freedom; Ergo Let’s Celebrate Our Own Personal Independence”, “Absolutions for Us”, and “Guitar Songs” are all acoustic folk which can be heard from the sample. Currently, Smythe is working on an all-banjo album called “Banjo Songs” set for release early Summer of 2022.

Except for many rap songs and folk singles’ playlists released onto the platform SoundCloud, most albums can be found on any major streaming service. From the year 2019 to 2022, he released 15 albums, two mixed singles playlists, and eight music videos that were all for various music genres.

Albums

 * A Tennessee Kid (SoundCloud, 2019)
 * My Dark Surrounding (SoundCloud, 2019)
 * Future Surreal (SoundCloud, 2019)
 * A Love Night and Day (SoundCloud, 2020)
 * Reckless (2020)
 * Extended Lows (SoundCloud, 2020)
 * October 5x3 (SoundCloud, 2020)
 * Simpleton Kid (2021)
 * Simpleton Kid 2 (2021)
 * Strange Love (2021)
 * Left in Deception (2021)
 * Letter to the Universe (2021)
 * Tiny Songs of Freedom; Ergo Let’s Celebrate Our Own Personal Independence (2021)
 * Absolutions for Us (2021)
 * Guitar Songs (2022)

Singles

 * ''PsychoPack” (September 24, 2020)
 * Playlist: The Unfinished and Unperfected Songs of 2015, 2019, 2020 (SoundCloud, 2020)
 * Playlist: PPE (SoundCloud, 2021)

Remixes

 * Simpleton Kid (SoundCloud, Smythe Remix) by Introvert (2022)
 * Simpleton Kid 2 (SoundCloud, Smythe Remix) by Introvert (2022)

Videos

 * Every Part of Me (2020)
 * Run and Gun (2020)
 * Problems (2020)
 * watch it go with me (2021)
 * Never Happened (2021)
 * did you ever think we would get this far? (2021)
 * Letter to the Universe (2021)
 * i love you sadness (2022)

Compositions for Film

 * Rap Song for “Juicy Mooshu” (2017)