Fiddler/singer-songwriter Kathleen Parks returns to Mauch Chunk Opera House, located on West Broadway in Jim Thorpe, on March 12 for her first headlining show at the venue.

Parks, a co-founder of Americana band Twisted Pine, opened for The Jacob Jolliff Band at the opera house on a “special night” back in September. The upcoming gig will include material from Parks’ 2024 debut solo album “Rolling Down the Line” and fresh takes on some covers.

The vocalist, raised in Newburgh, New York, and residing in Boston, wanted to pursue music “as early as I can remember. I was always singing around the house as a child and trying to write songs.”

Parks, who teaches fiddle and group ensembles in Americana and folk, regards John Hartford, Carole King, Patsy Cline, Harry Nilsson, Roger Miller and Gordon Lightfoot as favorites and influences.

Furthermore, Parks’ father was a huge influence, “as he was a full-time professional musician, as well as a music teacher. He was a leader of the Jazz Knights at West Point, and later toured all over the country and in the EU with the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra for about 30 years.”

Early influence

From an early age, Parks’ parents encouraged her to perform as much as possible.

“Growing up, I was an Irish step dancer, and that got me performing regularly for festivals and contests that would later bring me all the way to Ireland.”

Parks, who first performed live at age 4 as an Irish dancer at a Jimmy Sturr Orchestra Christmas show, started studying classical music at age 5. The entertainer then studied Irish fiddle from age 9 to 15.

“Irish fiddle music is taught by ear, so this developed my muscle memory and ear training to learn melodies of the fiddle, quickly,” Parks said. “My father, being a trumpeter in classical, jazz and funk, encouraged me to learn to improvise on my instrument and start learning jazz standards.

“He showed me how to continue to use my ear to learn how to swing melodies on the violin,” Parks continued. “When I was writing songs on my own, I began trying to pick out bass lines on the fiddle. This would be a huge part of how my songs would develop and translate into my sound over time.”

Her own kind of music

In her adult life, Parks’ projects have all incorporated some sort of fiddle-forward-music genre.

“The fact that my songwriting is inspired by pop, vintage country, blues and indie music changes the dynamic of the genres. There are always these styles alongside a love of different types of fiddle music, whether it be Celtic, bluegrass or old-time.”

Parks, while a student at then-Berklee College of Music, co-founded the instrumental act Cat and the Moon in 2013. Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, as well as Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul, inspired Cat and the Moon, which released a self-titled album in 2015.

Though uncertain whether she will resurrect Cat and the Moon, Parks loves “getting the chance to showcase the instrumental side of my playing and writing. I still love working up Celtic music and collaborating with artists from all backgrounds.”

Other works

The musician, also in 2013, co-founded Twisted Pine, which “started out as a ‘traditional-inspired’ bluegrass band. The award-winning group’s discography consists of a 2017 self-titled set, 2018 covers EP “Dreams,” and 2020 and 2024 albums “Right Now” and “Love Your Mind,” respectively.

Another of Parks’ musical endeavors, the duo Kat & Brad, released a self-titled album in 2019. The set, for which the five-string fiddler, along with singer-guitarist Brad Bensko, wrote the material and recorded all instruments, harkened back to “dreamy” 1960s pop.

Parks, along with Bensko, produced her solo debut “Rolling Down the Line.” Making the album, she said, was an important step to take.

“The songs were written primarily on guitar, and in Twisted Pine, we do not play with a guitarist. They just didn’t feel right for that band, or Kat & Brad.”

During the pandemic, the performer wrote a lot more songs “in this new Americana feel. I started to realize I had a full album’s worth of material that I could record and release.”

What to look for

Looking ahead, Parks soon will enter the studio to record four new songs with the band she’s bringing to the opera house. She hopes to release new singles and eventually an EP in the summer or early fall.

The artist’s career highlights thus far include performing at Colorado’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival and teaching at the Blue Ridge Fiddle Camp in North Carolina.

Other high points include opening for singer-songwriters Lightfoot and Sierra Hull, and working with Dobro/lap-steel guitarist Jerry Douglas.

Among Parks’ dreams: performing at Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and Newport Folk Fest under her own name, and singing with Alison Krauss, Peter Rowan and the band I’m With Her.

Parks, even with many small and large dreams, just wants “to make people feel good and bring peace of mind to people who hear me and my band. I’d love to pack in the opera house on March 12.”