Growing up, Abby Parks didn't have a permanent home. The daughter of a civilian who worked for the Army, Parks, born in Durham, N.C., traveled across the country and world with her family before settling down in a permanent teaching gig at The Donoho School in Anniston.

Parks' sophomore album, The Homeplace, is a kind of remembrance of her past and life in the South, a collection of stories woven into songs with a strong folk feel to them.

The Homeplace is a real place for Parks. When she was a child living in Atlanta, she remembers going down to "the country," the term for her grandmother's house, and having big family congregations with aunts, uncles and cousins.

The title song, "Wild Dogs" and "Lambert Road" are all pulled from Parks' family history, some originally were poems she wrote about her mom's family.

"Some of the songs are true stories or true stories with a twist," Parks says of the album. "There's a little bit of heritage thrown in there, too."

Parks' musical style had a lot of influence from her parents. Growing up in the '70s, she listened to bands such as Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers and singers such as Joni Mitchell.

"I rediscovered Joni for myself in the '80s," Parks said. "I loved her lyric writing and use of chords — it's not the typical folk chords. I don't try and emulate her, necessarily, but she's definitely had an influence on my style."

Her first guitar was a 12th birthday present from her parents — a nylon-string classical guitar that she still owns today, and that she loans to her students if they need it. While she did take guitar lessons, her first foray into classical guitar came by her own doing. She became enamored with the music of classical guitarist John Michael Talbot, a Catholic musician who has released several Christian albums. By listening to Talbot, Parks taught herself the classical guitar and kept that up until she went to college and learned finger picking.

Most of Parks' formal training came from classes at Colorado Christian University, just west of Denver.

That's when one of her instructors first suggested that she should teach guitar.

Parks didn't really think about teaching until she moved to Mildenhall, England, with her family. There on the Army base she saw an ad on a bulletin board for a guitar teacher, which she applied for.

Then she started putting up her own ads across the base offering lessons.

"I had 15 students at one time — that was a big deal, but now I've had 55 at one time before," she said.

Parks' family returned to the States and settled in Alabama, and the guitarist enrolled at Jacksonville State University with a double major in English and guitar. Upon graduation, she received a called from The Donoho School about an open position as a guitar teacher.

Somehow in between her lessons, Parks found time to travel to Huntsville to record The Homeplace at Soundcell Studio with Doug Jansen Smith, who has worked with Brian McKnight, Take 6, Willie Nelson and Phil Collins.

This album was the first time Parks had worked with other musicians and a producer with so much experience. She was ecstatic when she listened to the finished recording of "Wild Dogs," her first single release off the album.

"I drove home from Huntsville and stuck it in the CD player and played it over and over again," she said. "I love the rhythm section, especially on the chorus."

Smith was impressed by Parks' vision for the album and with her moving lyrics. While she helped push Smith and the other producers in the right direction, she was also accommodating to changes and flexible with new ideas.

"It was a great collaboration on everybody's part," Smith said in a phone interview earlier this week. "Her lyrics are intelligent … they ask the audience to pay attention. She should be able to develop her own following and find them to be loyal."

Now that the album is complete, Parks is spending her time promoting The Homeplace with shows in Alabama and Georgia, the next of which is Jan. 16 at the Local Color Café in Springville. She is concentrating on performing at festivals across the Southeast and some of the larger cities, such as Atlanta and Birmingham.

"The cities are where you're more likely to get noticed," Parks said. "I have a desire to get out of my own town and travel around the Southeast and let people know who I am."

The Homeplace is available online at www.abbyparks.com.