| CD REVIEW Charlie Parr |
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Band : Charlie Parr Charlie Parr is a Country Blues musician hailing from Duluth in Minnesota. With influences including Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis and Dave Van Ronk, it shouldn’t be surprising that his music is rather stripped-down to suit the travelling loner. He’s got three guitars, a steel-bodied National resonator, a fretless open-back banjo, and a 12-string…which he all plays in the Piedmont-style of Country Blues! Another influence which surely shouldn’t be forgotten, is Parr’s father, a travelling worker until he met his wife, when he became union activist. When younger, his father would frequently play songs by Blues oldies like Elizabeth Cotton, Fred McDowell, and Dog Boggs (collected and released in those days by such American music archevists like Alan Lomax and Harry Smith), and the newest music Parr Sr. would be listening to was in fact Johnny Cash. Like so many, Charlie felt the need to rebel as a teenager and tried to do so by listening to music by the likes of Husker Du, The Minutemen, and other Punk Rock acts. One day his father would point out that The Clash was really just loudly played Folk music, a fact which young Parr would resent at first…but in the end he would return to Blues quickly enough. Dropping out of highschool just one year in, he left home to see the country, his guitar on his back. He eventualy settled in Minneapolis in 1985 (the region known as “West Bank” was apparenntly a gathering place for a long line of Minneapolis troubadours), where he was later to meet his wife (a drama teacher at Duluth’s high school). In his beginning days Parr used to be a working musician, taking jobs as a homeless-outreach worker, but he eventually left the job (which didn’t make much anyway) to take care of his children, figuring that the famiily would break even not having to pay for the daycare of his kids. He also thought he’d get more time to practice his guitar play, but obviously hadn’t thought of the increasing amount of time a child can demand of its caring father. From playing 6-7 hours a day, he eventually went to 1 or 2. Holiday time is a real treat in the Parr family, as dad takes mom and the two children along in a minivan to go play across the country. During the year, that means long weekends or weeklong outings, but during Summer the family is out on the road for the complete duration! And on the road, there’s frequent stops to show the kids the landmarks, or simply to kick the soccer ball around a bit! Anyway, Charlie Parr was eventually “discovered” by the people at Shaky Ray Records, who issued the man’s debut album Criminals And Sinners in 2002. Apparently Parr learned a lot in the process, because that same year he would self-release his 1922 album in a jewel case to take along on the road. England based label Misplaced Music would then release the 2004 album King Earl (at the same time re-issuing the debut album for the European territories). 2005 would see the release of Rooster on the Little Judges and Eclectone Records labels (jewel case and digipack respectively; the jewel case would be re-issued in 2008), followed by another self-release (a man’s gotta make a living, right?) titled Backslider (this time a live recording) the year after. Jubilee, again on the Little Judges imprint, came in 2007, followed by 2008 7-inch vinyl single Worried Blues (the title track taken off the King Lear album, b-side “Write Me A Few Lines” previouslyunreleased), issued through End Of The Road Records (for more details, check out the musician’s page on Wikipedia, which is where I took most of the info from – no copy-paste thing though – to base this article on). Also in 2008, Parr re-issued his 1922 album in a handmade, letterpress sleeve with new artwork on both cover and CD. Obviously, Charlie Parr has been featured on plenty of compilation albums since being discovered (for more details, again check Wikipedia) Roustabout is the man’s latest outing, a 12-track (44:22) album which, in spite of only containing 3 re-worked traditionals, has an air of authenticity about it which is simply uncanny! The style which Parr plays, is known as “Piedmont Blues”, characterized by a fingerpicking approach and a basis in Ragtime techniques. Although the geographical area of the Piedmont plateau on the East Coast of the US (from which the style got its name) spans roughly from Richmond (Virginia) in the North, to Atlanta (Georgia) in the South, the Blues style expanded far beyond those regions, and it was a nationally popular commercial musical form for Black people between the 1920s and 1940s. After the Second World War the style kinda fell out of favour, but remained a style still played quite often on a local basis throughout the South-East of the US, being played quite often at Saturday night social functions. As time went on, the music changed slightly from being danceable, to being played as music for festivals (rather than dancing), starting in the 1960s. Around that time also quite a few White folks started playing the style, often taking their lessons from the old Black masters in the musical style (for more info, check the page on Piedmont Blues at Wikipedia – which is where I took the info from to make this synopsis). As mentioned earlier, this fingerpickin’ Blues style is one quite often played by loners, but that doesn’t mean that the main artist can’t invite friends to join in occasionally. Nice additions to Charlie Parr’s music (at least on this album), come from people playing the occasional fiddle (Ryan Young on the album closing “God Moves On the Water” – one of the 3 re-worked traditionals on the album), the occasional guitar (Dave Simonet on the same track, also adds backing vocals), harmonica (Dave Hundreiser on “Far Cry From Fargo”, “The B&J Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole In The Ground”, and “Farmer”), or washboard, chopsticks, bass drum, and miscelanious other percussion instruments (Mikkel Beckman on several of the songs). Even more variety comes by Parr himself switching his own instrument from banjo (album opening “Don’t Send Your Son To War” and “Come Along & See”), 12-string guitar (most of the tracks), or his Resonator steel-bodied guitar (on the instrumental “Adrift In Lake Superior At Sunrise”), which has the uncanny ability of sounding like a violin with a steel body (something to do with the sliding way the strings are moved, most probably). Guest musician on the album previously left unmentioned, is Charlie’s wife Emily, adding her voice too the traditional “Walk Around My Bedside” (third traditional on the album is the 12-string guitar played “Last Payday At Coal Creek” (which mày also have some chopsticks played on it…but I ain’t sure). Of course, it’s not only the main instrument (or the additions) which make for variety, as the singer can either choose to make uplifting music (which in general Piedmont Blues actually is, being based for a large part on those Ragtime techniques), or go for a calmer approach (the almost 8-minute “Midnight Has Come And Gone” being the perfect example for the fact that a calmer song therefore does not mean you’re playing a ballad)! You’ll find no music at (www.)myspace.com/charlieparr, but there’s some myspace videos available (which I didn’t check up on, the usual time shortage limiting my investigation possibilities). However, you’ll find a couple of mp3-files per previous album Parr released at (www.)charlieparr.com! Nothing off the new album yet, regrettably, but what’s available should give you a good idea of what Charlie Parr is all about! Personally, I’ve always had a thing for the authentic Blues styles, and therefore you’ll find me giving this otherwise acoustic album a fairly high rating! By the way, apparently the CD’s already been out since late 2008 (in the States, perhaps?), a limited 10-inch vinyl version of the album now being released in the UK (hum…only 10 inches for almost 44 ½ minutes of music…seems like a little on the tight side to me!). 88/100 Tony. |