Charlie Parr
"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 Watch a Video
"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 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," which came out in late November. 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.
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