Charlie Parr's a singer-songwriter and heavy-duty National steel/12-string/banjo player whose accounts of life on the down and out, and of the struggle to retain some shred of dignity in the face of everyday disaster, ring with a sound that can only be called truth. Long a fixture of the bar and festival circuit in his native Upper Midwest, Parr has toured the United Kingdom repeatedly in recent years, appeared on NPR's A Praire Home Companion, shared the stage with players like Greg Brown and Spider John Koerner, and issued a string of well-received albums -- most recently "Roustabout." Possessed of a battered howl of a voice and a common-man touch informed by years of homeless outreach work and maybe just by the cold of his Duluth home, Parr's country blues carry a chill that raises neck hairs even as they prompt listeners to raise a glass or jump up and shake it.

"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