QUOTES -----------
No
matter where he plays, Parr attracts attention the way bug-zappers attract
moths. His voracious but hardly virtuosic finger-picking will burn under
your skin, whether it's on his metallic resophonic guitar or beat-up 12-string.
- Chris Riemenschneider, Minneapolis
Star Tribune
Charlie Parr's fingers can make a resonator guitar wail with sorrow.
His playing is impeccable, his songwriting is haunting and his voice
holds a rawness that carries the spirit of the music.
- Anne Tangeman, The
Lawrencian Lawrence KS
Parr
doesn't shower on tour.
- Dave Simonett Trampled
By Turtles
Charlie
Parr is one of the greatest musicians and human beings I know. So many
country-blues artists are crippled with retroism and purism, but he
has brought wonder and excitement to this music. Even Charlie's foot
coming down on the floor boards screams with more soul and life than
most anything - past or future.
- Alan Sparhawk, Low
I think he’s
just wonderful and he really reminds me of a young Dave Van Ronk; he’s
got that kind of solid deal to him.
– Greg Brown
Most of Charlie Parr’s
songs are about drinkin’ and killin’.
- Ripsaw
News
I saw Charlie Parr
perform in Duluth, MN one freezing night in 2002. His set comprised of
what I took to be a selection of traditional songs and folk covers. I
went out the next day, bought his CD and listened in awe realizing that
all the songs I had heard that night were Charlie Parr originals. There
is something real, pure and timeless about this music and from then on
in I’ve been smitten.
- Richard Adams, Hood
This is music at
it’s most honest, ragged and stripped bare of any frills however
the timeless songwriting shines through.
- Misplaced
Music
I was really blown away
by … Charlie Parr, he writes in the blues tradition as well as doing
some old stuff. He gets it.
- Dakota
Dave Hull
Charlie
Parr plays like a jackhammer and sings like he’s been down some dusty
roads … I highly recommend him.–
- Paul Metsa
REVIEWS & ARTICLES -----------
Review - Jubilee
THE IRISH TIMES - 4 OUT OF 5 STARS (Oct. 19, 2007)
CHARLIE PARR Jubilee
"A confused and shy individual, Charlie Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo."
The introduction is courtesy of Parr's website and, yes, it's a little short on the corporate gloss. Based in Duluth, Minnesota - heretofore best known as the birthplace of Bob Dylan and likely to remain so - Parr dives deep into the blues, regaling us with stories of drunkenness and bad times.
In the same way that the early Delta bluesmen travelled a lot in a very small area - their world and worldview were very narrow, their music the exact opposite - Parr mops up the neighbourhood gossip and serves it up with energetic, coarse but fascinating songs.
Some are better than others but all are infused with awesome passion. In 1937 it would have been normal, in 2007 it's extraordinary. (By Joe Breen, THE IRISH TIMES, Oct. 19, 2007. Original article can be found here.)
Charlie Parr, Crawdaddy, Dublin (Sept. 6, 2007)
Charlie Parr has an inseparable affinity with his music, a 100 percent-proof blend of bluegrass, blues and country, with a rock-red seam of rag and stomp. He plays his steel-bodied guitar with such dexterity and grace, it's difficult to picture him without it. Seated diffidently, hunched over the instrument with a mike barely within reach of his sparse vocals, he is utterly without pretence. The music spills out from him, a pure steady stream of tone and colour, each note jostling up and off the frets, a whole family of chords behind it pushing and shoving to drop their way off and scatter themselves among the
crowd below.
It's a bit of a strain at first to hear Parr's vocals, but what a vocal; with its shaky timbre, evoking dead trees splitting slowly in the woods, it is completely at home with the relentless, if gentle, strummings, slides and pickings from his guitar. Parr has left the banjo at home tonight, but that doesn't mean he can't flail his way around a fretboard with all the fluidity and deftness of a man who has done a deal with the devil.
The disarming thing about Parr's music is how familiar it all sounds. For the most part, these are not blues standards, but Parr's own music. He is so intuitive, though, that you find yourself foot-tapping from the off and softly humming a snatch of lyric as each chorus opens up and develops a little life of its own.
The difference between his own tracks, such as Stingray and Jubilee (the title track from his new album, which was recorded in two days in his friend's garage), his reverent cover versions of songs by Blind Willie Johnson, such as God Moves on the Water, and his take on traditional tracks, such as Jesus on the Mainline, is barely discernible.
This is music that pulses and breathes, rhythms that sway heavy and deep, like fruit swung low on an autumnal tree; music that utterly captures the America of shunting trains and rolling plains, of home-made hooch and
Piedmont blues.
As the show develops, Parr starts to enjoy himself, and takes time between almost every track to thank these folks for coming by tonight. As rough as a barn, as much fun as a barn dance, Charlie Parr is extraordinary, humbling and authentic blues country to the core. (By Laurence Matkin, THE IRISH TIMES. Original article can be found here.)
2006 London Times Review
2006 City Pages Article
Click here for the Minneapolis Star Tribune article about Charlie (from Oct. 2005)
Ya know those snappy,
ancient folk/blues nuggets and dire, hill-country ballads you hear bearded,
guitar-slingin’ duffers crankin’ out in cafes and taverns over
on the West Bank? The ones you sometimes recognize as older-than-dirt,
original versions of songs some of your favorite contemporary artists
have covered? Well, Minnesota-based picker/songwriter Charlie Parr can
play ‘em all—from tunes Koerner, Ray & Glover cut their
wizened old teeth on to tracks Memphis Minnie leered out over grinning
lips, and lemme tell you, that ain’t no small feat.
Thing is, though he has that capability, that ain’t what ole Charlie’s
all about. Nossireebob, Charlie writes all of his own music and lyrics
and sings ‘em to boot—and unless you were a student of Alan
Lomax or a Folkways library professor, you probably couldn’t tell
the difference. That’s not to say Charlie doesn’t sound fresh,
or exciting or life-affirming, because he’s all of those and more—it’s
just amazing that a guy born after World War II can channel the raw, pure-dee
soul sassifaction inherent in this type of pickin’ an’ grinnin’.
With song titles like “Ellen Mayhem,” “Wild Bill Jones,”
“One Eyed Jack” and the title track, it’s clear right from
the get-go that the listener is in for some fine, inspired story-tellin’
and Parr doesn’t disappoint. Though the tempo and pickin’ style
(and type of guitar—from resonator to 12-string and even banjo from
time-to-time) vary from track to track here, there’s one constant—Parr’s
hypnotic, road-hardened pipes and the fascinating characters populating
his soulful, heart-felt ditties.
Keeping in mind that the folks who originally saved this musical form
from extinction (K,R&G are a great local example) back in the early
‘60s inspired such musical luminaries as Bob Dylan, John Prine and
Bonnie Raitt, it’s great to know there are modern-day cats like Parr
honoring and preserving it for yet another generation of appreciative
musicologists and enthusiastic fans. Highly recommended for students of
authentic American music and plain old good time pickin’ an’
grinnin’.
- THE PULSE
Charlie Parr’s
fingers can make a resonator guitar wail with sorrow. His hands fly so
fast when he’s playing, you’re not sure which hand you want
to observe. His playing is impeccable, his songwriting is haunting and
his voice holds a rawness that carries the spirit of the music. His latest
CD, Rooster is a beautiful 12-song collection of his picking, country
blues style. From the angry “Samson and Delilah” to the delicate,
but powerful “1928” and the rolling “Gone”, Parr once
again hits the mark. He is able to play Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend
Gary Davis licks as well as any fingerpicker, but his own songs stand
tall on their own. He champions union leaders of the past and chronicles
the lives of downtrodden acquaintances. He has managed to write another
collection of songs that sound like classic old-time ballads while remaining
original-instantly classic yet wholly original. He’s the real deal.
- THE LAWRENCIAN
Click here for a great review from How Was The Show
Review -
King Earl
Duluth Minnesota's finest returns, a couple weeks after his stunning 'Criminals
& Sinners' set had the alan lomax and harry smith watchers amongst
us scurrying for cover. After years of reviewing frankly half-arsed blues
derivators, its so refreshing to hear someone like Charlie pick up the
baton, and hit the ground running. Driving country blues and rags in the
old style, 11 new compositions next to a couple of rearrangments of 'worried
blues' and 'miner's lament'. Next to able board stomps and washboard,
there's a couple theremin tracks - all the while, Charlie hollers and
plays beautifully on 12 string, National steel and even banjo. There's
splashes of instrumental brilliance the equal of Leo Kottke's 6 &
12 string, but really it's Parr's corruscating attack of a voice, heading
down that dusty gravel road which raises the stakes here. As serious as
your life, and twice as exciting - what a discovery.
- BOOMKAT
Review -
King Earl
The second charlie parr album of this year, some more classic stripped
down folky blues just like it used to be played in the fields, this is
exactly how folk music should sound, its raw and exciting, september 2004
ROAD RECORDSCharlie Parr ú King Earl (Misplaced) Itās not always
that ideal to be ahead of your time just as much as itās far from pointless
to be decades behind it. Charlie Parr could easily have been performing
the blues 70 or 80 years ago, fitting neatly into the era and might well
have held his own with the heavyweights of the 1960's folk movement. As
it goes, Charlie Parr is around now and for that we should be grateful.
Recorded live to two track, this captures the spirit that wowed audiences
on his UK tour earlier this year, with possibly the hectic slide runs
of his animated version of the "Worried Blues" the brightest
highlight amongst many. Skif
- VANITY PROJECT
Review -
King Earl
the second uk release for this astonishing musician. parr plays national
steel (mainly) updating folk and blues tunes with his own idiosyncratic
ideas. the whole album was recorded one evening in january 2004 and is
intimate, soulful, transcendent and essential. parr should be thought
of alongside the rest of the new guitar breed (jack rose, ben chasny etc)
- ROUGH TRADE
Review - King
Earl
I'll let you into a little secret of mine here. It had always been (maybe
foolishly) in my mind to one day cross the Nevada in a beaten up but hitherto
reliable 50's convertible with only my own thoughts, the hot sun, the
natural elements of the forever rolling landscapes and a stack of classic
blues CD's for company. Maybe a little Elmore, some Hooker, Sonny Boy
Williamson, you get the drill. To that pile I've added King Earl
by Charlie Parr, which in simple terms gives you an inkling from where
this release is coming.
We were warned by the label "it's better than Criminals
and Sinners". In response we sniffed, for the album they referred
and compared is in our humble opinion one of the shining lights of 2004.
Previously Parr had been unknown to us, it was just another CD, just another
well written biog and press release that though joyously announcing the
return to traditional music values failed almost miserably to even scratch
the surface of what was to be a "purist paradise".
A handful of months pass by and another CD by Charlie Parr. Could
it really be better than Criminal and Sinners, you bet your possum
cooked arse it is. Thirteen more immense tracks, and when we say immense
we mean like huge hulking slabs of good time eyes staring at the bottom
of a bottle of bourbon traditionally scored tunes drafted in from the
deep South via the Mississippi delta. In an age of commercialism and celebrity
and the turn of
a quick buck, the soul saving melodies of Parr are like a breath of fresh
air, timeless and majestic, princely and magnificent.
If anything, King Earl is a more rootsy and dusty affair
than its predecessor, these square jawed gems have been blended from the
finest ingredients and left to mature in oak wood casks until fit to burst.
As with Criminals and Sinners the attendant ghosts of Mississippi
John Hurt, Carl Perkins and John Fahey (especially on the exceptionally
springy blues hoedown "Worried Blues" which opens the set) still
haunt the gritty grooves, Parr weaves deliriously amid ancient mountain
music motifs as old as the Earth itself spliced and peppered by bluegrass,
delta blues and the merest sprinkling of homely folk.
King Earl was laid down on a two track during a frenzied
one night recording session earlier this year which in some ways goes
to explain the raw passion which pervades throughout, overall it suggests
a feeling of travel as Parr ventures the length and breadth of the Union
re-tracing the foot steps of the legendary pioneers of the blues, this
time influenced markedly by Charlie Patton, the barely audible strains
of Elmore James (on the, it has to be said, awesome "Ode to a new
dealer") and Robert Johnson can also be heard in the distance along
with equally minded modern day artists such as Ry Cooder, Will Oldham,
King Creosote (check out the heartbreaking title track for any further
evidence) and Steve Earle (just check out the Copperhead Road like
motifs being scratched by that classic early Sun studio sounds so ably
worked by Cash / Perkins and Presley on "Reverend Evictions Blues").
So authentic sounding, King Earl will have swearing you can touch
the imagery and smell the wide-open plains such is its vividness.
Tracks such as the grim "Possessed by the Devil" with its subtle
referencing of the Jones' era Stones. "Their Satanic Majesties Request"
and the barn hopping blue grass slog "Union Tramp" with its
passing nod to Scruggs and Flatt neatly exemplifies the balance of the
light and dark that Parr keenly aims for. For me though the centrepiece
of the whole album come in the form of both the haunting "Miner's
Lament" which itself evokes the spirit of Nick Drake's "River
Man" and the doomy "1917" which mirrors the aforementioned
artists "Black Eyed Dog" for intensity and dejected bleakness,
both endearingly colourful in a way that Drake could only ever be and
yet numbingly hollow. King Earl is that rarest of treats all wrapped
in a natural, honest to God rawness. Now you treat it with respect y'hear.
- LOSING TODAY
Review - King
Earl
I've been banging on about the genius of this guy for far too long now.
At last it seems people now seem to be agreeing with me rather than walking
away tutting saying 'oh dear old Clint what are we to do with him'. This
album is simply superb start to finish. Its wonderful lo-fi folky blues
that sounds as old as the hills. This is a million miles away from the
awful Clapton drudgery that gives blues a bad name. In fact if its not
blues what do you call it - American Folk, Mountain Music, lo-fi acoustic
folk..... whatever it is there's no doubting that Parr is an extremely
gifted songwriter. Some of these songs are so good it beggars belief.
According to others less obsessed than me, this pisses all over the already
brilliant 'Criminals and Sinners' (from earlier this year). So you
know what to do.
- NORMAN RECORDS
Performance
Writeup
Charlie
Parr & Haley Bonar
@ The Guilded Palace of Sin, UK
"With the look of Steve Earle about him, Charlie Parr pushes all
the right buttons...."
Read more HERE
Performance
Review
Charlie Parr, Adrian Crowley & Big Eyes Duo
@ The Packhorse, UK
Walking into this gig halfway through, you could be forgiven for thinking
it was some sort of school outing led by a drunken headmaster. More than
half the audience are sat cross-legged on the floor due to The Packhorse’s
ill-defined attempt at seating, staring at Charlie Parr, sat in the corner
motionless save for his rambling fingers and stomping foot, occasionally
his lolling head rising puppet-like to grace the microphone with some
of its long-bearded lyrics. Screeching glass on steel paired with ancient
folk tales makes for a refreshingly authentic performance. The Big Eyes
Duo and Adrian Crowley do little but slow the clocks in anticipation of
Charlie’s arrival, especially Adrian Crowley, whose every song was
sung at a groundbreakingly tedious tempo. Peddling songs which were clearly
written on the back of a freight train on a starlit night, Charlie opens
with ‘Statesboro Blues', dashing at it hell-for-leather and transforming
it into the acoustic guitar equivalent of a knife fight. Other highlights
include the shifty-eyed jazz of ‘Lowdown’, and the world-weary
lyric of ‘Song for Loren B’, declaring “If I had the strength
to fight, they’d lock me away for sure.” The thing about Charlie
is, it’s not his songwriting or performance which draws you in, but
the love of music which seems to exude from every aspect of his being.
It is clear to everyone watching that Parr is passionate about his music.
He cradles softer songs in padded arms, while kicking the stuffing out
of the rowdy ones, capturing the hobo ethic with sympathetic accuracy.
Charlie Parr is one of those scarce roots-music performers who not only
knows which notes to play, but also knows how to play them.
- PAUL WHITEHEAD
Performance
Review
Charlie Parr, Adrian Crowley, Big Eyes Duo
Leeds Packhorse
06apr04
To say this evening is low-key is as understated as the evening. Projected
slides of tree branches, leaves and panorama bleached by sunlight provide
the background while we punters choose to sit and appreciate, utilising
every inch of floor space like yogic battery hens. A quick salivary drag
on my surrogate fag (aka a cherry Chupa-Chup), and my attempts to briefly
relieve the congestion in my cold-ridden nostrils, however well disguised,
threaten to drown out the sensitive acoustic sound of the Big Eyes Duo.
Rather than duelling banjos, this offshoot from the even bigger-eyed concern
is more about collaborative guitars, working in their own way but to a
joint objective, which they achieve with tender ease. Adrian Crowley’s
brand of light melancholy is given extra import by his use of electric
guitar in brandishing his light melancholia. One voice and two hands on
a guitar, but he creates a much fuller sound than that might suggest.
Almost as soon as Crowley leaves the stage, Charlie Parr steps onto it,
looking every inch the seasoned troubadour hunched over his guitar, his
foot slapping the small stage in time. From within the husky beard he
sports comes a classic cotton-field vocal, delivered on occasion with
a Leon Redbone-esque blur, but the guitar pickin’ and slidin’
is far from lazy in style, indeed quite hyperactive. Rapturously received,
it’s a rousing finish to a magical evening.
- VANITY PROJECT MAGAZINE
Rough
Trade Review:
"This is great! Parr is from Minnesota and brings together influences
from Harry Smith's box, Mississippi John Hurt, Dave Van Ronk and more.
Plays a fine national resonator guitar, his own songs sound like lost
folk classics. This is highly recommended".
WHAT OTHERS SAY ......
“A simple act that capitalizes on the simplicity inherent in blues
music … his music taps into your senses on a deeper, more guttural
level"
- Ripsaw News
“This
is music at it’s most honest, ragged and stripped bare of any frills
however the timeless songwriting shines through.”
- Misplaced Music
“For
all the folk, blues and country influences that can find themselves dotted
through these pages … few artists among them (if any) come close
to locating the heart of traditional American music like Charlie Parr.”
- Comes With A Smile
“Criminals
and Sinners is a certified, 100% rock solid humdinger of a gem, those
of a certain disposition and a welcoming understanding of traditional
folk, mountain music and the delta blues will simply crumble with thanks
to whoever up there that out there in the mad world someone still plays
like this.”
- Losing Today
"...sometimes
it stomps playfully, often it reduces the listener to a quivering, weeping
wreck…”
– Norman Records, UK
“Parr
plays a blend of folk, blues and ‘mountain music’ that is rootsy
without being a museum curio. Criminals & Sinners is at once
courageously timeless and wisely modern.”
- The Leeds Guide, UK
"A record that will have you alternately tapping your feet and crying into the CD player....Criminals and Sinners is at once courageously timeless and wisely modern"
"Phenomenal
guitar playing, sometimes dirty, swampy and bluesy. Sometimes folky yet
always intricate and honest"
- I'd rather be fat than confused
"Catches
the very essence of what great music is all about"
- Broken Face
"...an
exceptionally empathetic take on country blues that will sit alongside
the greats in your collection"
- Leeds Guide (album of the fortnight)