Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination.

Albums

Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. In 1980, he was a founding member of the Christian Jazz Fusion band Koinonia. Parks is best known for his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, and Bread. Notably, he played guitar on Steely Dan's Royal Scam track "Haitian Divorce". Parks is also a long-time collaborator on David Foster albums, such as Shadows by Gordon Lightfoot. Parks features on Cat Beach's albums Letting Go and Love Me Out Loud. In 2008, Parks participated in the production of the album Psalngs, the debut release of Canadian musician John Lefebvre. Parks is very prominently featured on Viktor Krauss' album II (2007), where he plays a plethora of other stringed instruments in addition to electric and acoustic guitars. He played on eight Lyle Lovett albums.

Tours

During the late 1970s, Parks teamed up with Bread for their "Lost Without Your Love" reunion tour, taking on the responsibilities of lead guitarist. Following the departure of founding member Jimmy Griffin, Parks then became the 'unofficial' fourth member for the duration of the 1977/78 tours, including the visit to England to record a BBC TV special. He continued the role when Bread's co-founder, David Gates, put together his own solo touring band shortly afterwards. In the spring of 2005 he joined David Crosby and Graham Nash on their European tour, as well as their U.S. tours in fall 2007, fall 2008, and spring 2011. In April 2017 Parks joined James Taylor's band while Taylor recovered from a broken finger.

Movies

Parks has played guitar for film scores such as Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (with Carol Parks), Bowfinger, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Bounce, Days of Thunder, Dying Young, August Rush, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story and Rosewood (with Tommy Morgan and John Williams).

Personal life

He was married to fellow musician Carol Parks.

Discography

With America With Bobby Bland With Cher/Sonny & Cher With Chris Botti With Michael Bublé With T Bone Burnett With Joe Cocker With Andraé Crouch With Rita Coolidge With The Crusaders With Julia Fordham With Kenny Loggins With Lyle Lovett With The Manhattan Transfer With Aaron Neville With Madeleine Peyroux With Rebecca Pidgeon With Joe Sample With Steely Dan With others