Robert Parker

Although, as a musician, Robert Parker had long been involved in the New Orleans music world, having played saxophone for a number of local artists like Professor Longhair, Ernie K. Doe, Fats Domino and Huey (Piano) Smith, he was working as a hospital orderly and playing weekend gigs when he wrote the national hit "Barefootin'" in 1966. "We played a gig one night up in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a University of Alabama fraternity party," Parker told the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune in 1988. "All the kids took off their shoes and put them by the stage so they could dance better, I guess. All their shoes were piled up in front of the bandstand. It was the first time I had seen it done".