Therapist-songsmith Parker’s Looking Glass is 13 years long.

“I’m not the most technologically savvy person, so I decided to take a month off of work as a therapist in Missouri to take a series of audio-engineering classes at TRAC Studio West, which is where I met veteran producer Marti Amado,” says acoustic singer/songwriter Christine Parker, who grew up in Fallbrook. “I eventually made the decision to move back to San Diego and hired Marti to produce the record.” The resultant album is titled Looking Glass.

Regarding the title, “Each song was written in a different season of my life; the oldest being written 13 years ago, the newest last year. I began thinking of how I’ve changed a lot over the past 13 years, but also how I feel like I am now more ‘me’ than I’ve ever been. I realized that I could take each song and know exactly what was happening in my life at that time, exactly what I felt...it dawned on me that each song served as a mirror, reflecting back to me who I was and what was happening in that moment.”

Parker says her previous career as a therapist influences her songwriting. “You can’t help but be changed and affected by other people’s stories and experiences, by sharing the weight of their suffering or the delight of their joys. You face your own humanity. I think it is in those moments, when you are grappling with your own humanness or the humanness of others, that good songs are born.”

Christine Parker and mellow fellow Chad Taggart will appear October 12 at Lestat’s in Normal Heights, one of Parker’s favorite local stages.