In the music of Charlie Parr, there is a sincere conviction and earnest drive to create. The Minnesota-born guitarist, songwriter and interpreter of traditional music has released nineteen albums over two decades. Also, he has been known to perform up to 275 shows a year. Parr is a folk troubadour in the truest sense: taking to the road between shows, writing and rewriting songs as he plays. Further, he is fueled by a belief that music is eternal and cannot be claimed or adequately explained. Additionally, the bluesman poet pulls closely from the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship built by his influences.
The sounds from his working-class upbringing imbue Parr’s music with stylistic echoes of blues and folk icons of decades past. Further, those sounds include legends such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. Parr sees himself merely as a continuer of a folk tradition: “I feel like I stand on a lot of big shoulders,” he explains. “I hope that I’ve brought a little bit of myself to the music.”
Charlie Parr is the humble master of the 21st-century folk tradition. His discography is simultaneously metaphysical in nature and grounded in roots music. Parr started recording in Duluth in 2002, where he lives today. Life in the port town on Lake Superior has a way of bleeding into his work the same way his childhood in Austin, Minnesota does. Parr’s music has an overwhelming sense of being present and mindful, and his sound is timeless.
In his 2024 release, Little Sun, Parr weaves together stories celebrating music, community and communing with nature. Also, it is an ambitious and raw album that exemplifies the best of Parr’s sound. It’s a blend of the blues and folk traditions he continues to carry, and the steadfast originality of a poet.
Recommended for fans of John Fahey, Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Leo Kottke.
