From the AllMusic review: “It’s likely that Parker will always have to scurry down musical rabbit holes, and travel sonic and textural backroads, but as evidenced by There’s a Bluebird in My Heart, he always seems to return to where his highly individual songwriting and playing take center stage. Lucky for us.”

One has to give Anders Parker credit for sticking to his guns. Since leaving Space Needle to create Varnaline in the mid-’90s, he’s stubbornly mined a vein that melds his considerable abilities as a songwriter and guitar player with a restless ear; he’s always loved experimentation and exploration, attempting to articulate all of the music he fancies. For four years he engaged in widely varying projects with mixed outcomes, including his 2010 ambient guitar album, Cross Latitudes; New Multitudes, his 2012 collaboration with Jay Farrar, Jim James, and Will Johnson, putting their collective spin on unseen Woody Guthrie lyrics; and 2013’s Wild Chorus, a pop duo album with Kendall Meade. With There’s a Blue Bird in My Heart, Parker circles to embrace his electric guitar and crafty songwriting again with excellent results. The electric piano and guitar hook on opener “The Road” have a soulful pop hook at their center, but they give way and open wide, evolving from dreamy neo-pysch country to sprawling, moody guitar rock that recalls his love for Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.” “Animals” is chunky, spare, stomping, blues-tinged rock, equal parts Parker, Young, and the White Stripes. “Silver Yonder” is a tender, ethereal acoustic song with a ukulele and a Wurlitzer in the foreground, highlighting his stark vocal, echoed by a small chorus on the refrain. “Feel It” could be from a latter Varnaline record; its alt country vibe articulated by ringing acoustic and electric guitars, a warm drum kit, plodding bass, and Parker’s singing voice, sounding sweeter yet more disciplined than ever. There isn’t anything here that prepares one for the multi-faceted, simultaneously dreamy and crunchy prog-psych attack that is “Jackbooted Thugs (Have All the Best Drugs).” Here, melodic verses interchange with knotty guitar and drum sections, Wurlitzer echoes, echo effects, layered vocal harmonies, and squalling six-string solos that carry it through eight minutes of rock & roll glory. It’s likely that Parker will always have to scurry down musical rabbit holes, and travel sonic and textural backroads, but as evidenced by There’s a Bluebird in My Heart, he always seems to return to where his highly individual songwriting and playing take center stage. Lucky for us.

You can read the review here.

Magnet Magazine says: “Anders Parker flexes all of his considerable creative muscles with his latest—and perhaps best—solo album.”

Looking back over the breadth of Anders Parker’s two-decade career, there is little he has yet to accomplish or prove. The stylistic range encompassed by his Varnaline work alone is evidence of Parker’s determination to explore, illuminate, absorb and transcend every musical influence he’s experienced, from alt-country and raw folk to pastoral Americana and baroque art rock. And Parker’s catalog under his own name has been equally diverse, be it the transitional familiarity of 2004’s Tell It To The Dust or the ambient instrumental guitar wash of 2010’s Cross Latitudes. Throw in his recent pairing with Mascott/Sparklehorse multi-instrumentalist and longtime cohort Kendall Meade, and you’ve got an impressive and intimidating curriculum vitae.

Parker’s latest contribution is a welcome return to his Varnaline/early-solo sound, perhaps in reaction to his recent experimental streak. Opener “The Road” is a visceral eight-minute core sample of Parker’s most closely held inspirations, starting in a soulful pop vein and careening to a blistering Crazy Horse conclusion, while “Animals” cross-pollinates Parker’s Youngian love of twang bar blues with a stomp-and-holler ethic that could be mistaken for Jack White. Parker is equally comfortable with the kind of quiet intensity that can be as unnerving as it is soothing (“Unspoken,” “Don’t Let The Darkness In”), then counterpoints it with the epic and nearly prog-paced roar of the exquisitely titled “Jackbooted Thugs (Have All The Best Drugs).” After several years of wandering in the sonic wilderness, Parker has returned to his roots with a velvet-fisted vengeance.

—Brian Baker

You can read the review here.

Blurt Magazine gave the new album 4 out of 5 star review.

Not to be a dick about it, but thank the gods Anders Parker has rediscovered his electric guitar. His years in Varnaline and his first couple of solo records spoiled us – the marriage of singer/songwriter craft and loud rock was too perfect. The shift (descent?) into softer, more sedate sounds starting with his 2006 self-titled record seemed to enervate his songwriting as much as his studio performances. But there were signs of dissatisfaction on the overtly poppy Wild Chorus, the record he shared with his old pal Kendall Meade as Anders & Kendall, and that restlessness has apparently sent him back to his amplifiers for There’s a Bluebird in My Heart.

The blues-rocking “Animal,” grunged-out yet elegiac “Jackbooted Thugs” and bracingly rocking “The Road” soar to the skies or dig into the dirt in a way Parker hasn’t attempted in a good long while. This isn’t to say there aren’t quieter songs here. But folk rockers like the appropriately widescreen “Epic Life,” the gorgeous “Unspoken” and the exceptionally melodic “Don’t Let the Darkness In” sit in context, rather than dominating, and come off as that much more inviting and beautiful as a result.

If you’d given up on Parker after a few too many sedate navelgazers, perk your ears up once again:  There’s a Bluebird in My Heart is the sound of a great artist coming back home.

BY Michael Toland

You can read the review here.

Anders was was the guest editor at Magnet Magazine. He wrote about a whole slew of things. Wanna know what his favorite hammer is? Need a no-fail roast chicken recipe? Interested in his defense of Paul McCartney and Wings? You can find all that and much more here.