Charlie Parr

Charlie Parr is a folk troubadour in the truest sense: taking to the road between shows, writing and rewriting songs as he plays, fueled by a belief that music is eternal and cannot be claimed or adequately explained. The bluesman poet pulls closely from the sights and sounds around him, his lyrical craftsmanship built by his influences. The sounds from his working-class upbringing—including Folkways legends such as Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie—imbue Parr’s music with stylistic echoes of blues and folk icons of decades past. Parr sees himself merely as a continuer of a folk tradition: “I feel like I stand on a lot of big shoulders,” he says. “I hope that I’ve brought a little bit of myself to the music.” 

The humble master of the 21st century folk tradition, Parr started recording in Duluth in 2002, where he lives today. Life in the port town on Lake Superior has a way of bleeding into his work the same way his childhood in Austin, Minnesota does. 

In his recent 2024 release, Little Sun, Parr weaves together stories celebrating music, community, and communing with nature. Putting forth an ambitious and raw album that exemplifies the best of Parr's sound: a blend of the blues and folk traditions he continues to carry with him and the steadfast originality of a poet. 

“Charlie Parr’s eponymous debut is roaring American folk-blues with its plaid shirt plastered on. A charismatic voice and bright finger-picking raise it above cliches, the latter well done given Parr shattered his shoulder last year, and needed eight pins to fix it.” — The Guardian