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Charlie Parr
New
album “Stumpjumper” premiering now at NPR Folk Alley
Release date April
28 on Red House Records
Available for pre-order
here
“The raw metallic resonator
guitar sound of Charlie Parr registers as a magnet of sorts – in the same way we’re drawn to the curious sounds of Tom Waits and even the indie folk of The Mountain Goats.” – Glide Magazine |
APRIL
21, 2015: While a legend in some circles, Northwoods songwriter/guitarist Charlie Parr may be a new name to some music fans. Long a part of the vibrant Duluth, MN, music scene (Alan Sparhawk and Low, Trampled by Turtles), Charlie will release Stumpjumper, his first album with Grammy-winning Minnesota indie label Red House, on April 28. He’s announced additional tour dates through fall (scroll down for complete dates). NPR Folk Alley is streaming the album in its entirety this week, preview it here. As well as being the first album Charlie has recorded outside of his native Minnesota, Stumpjumper is his first to feature a full band and was recorded in rural North Carolina with producer Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger). Percussive and raw, the 11 songs on Stumpjumper, 10 originals and his version of the venerable murder ballad, “Delia,” could be lost field recordings from another era. Charlie’s blistering picking — he switches between acoustic guitar (he plays National resonator guitars), dobro and banjo — and keening, cut-through-the-crowd vocals resonate with a conviction that runs deep and true. Parr’s inspiration is drawn from the alternately fertile and frozen soil of Minnesota; his songs exude a Midwestern sensibility and humility. He grew up in the Hormel meatpacking city of Austin, MN (population 25,000) where most of the world’s favorite tinned meat, Spam, is still manufactured. (He won’t eat hot dogs to this day.) The combination of growing up with both of his parents working proud union jobs in an industrial meat factory and his largely rural environment had a broad impact on his songwriting. Growing up around hard physical work and being close to the
His heartfelt and plaintive original folk blues
and traditional spirituals don’t strive for authenticity: they are authentic. Press:
“Parr’s songs ring out
with a working-class ethos and a welcome-home energy.” – The Bluegrass Situation
“The native Minnesotan’s
style can best be described as new music from an older time – sometimes dark and desolate, sometimes raucous and danceable.” – Dan Forte (Vintage Guitar)
“He draws from the well of
human suffering, but does so with humor and just a dash of folk tale mystery.”
– American
Standard Time “Parr may have been born “Among the contenders in the every burgeoning indie “John Fahey described the music he collected on Tour |