There are musicians who play traditional music – set in a style that peaked long before they were born – and there are those who live such music, whose very essence is born of a sound and style that predates them.
Duluth, Minnesota native Charlie Parr is one such entity, a throwback both in sound and substance, a performer whose approach to making and marketing music would fit nicely to a bygone age.
Parr’s unfiltered sound has been described as “percussive and raw, the sort of songs that could have been lost field recordings from another era.” A self taught instrumentalist Parr’s blistering picking – deftly switching between acoustic guitar, Dobro and banjo – is ideally matched to his voice, an inimitable cry that is part whoop, part growl, and all conviction. It’s a tradition that began by listening to the records found in his father’s collection-artists ranging from Charley Patton to Lightnin’ Hopkins, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, and has worked its way into a sound that is all his. Parr’s heartfelt and plaintive original folk blues and traditional spirituals don’t strive for authenticity, they embody it.
Parr’s inspiration is drawn from the alternately fertile and frozen soil of Minnesota; his songs exude a Midwestern sensibility and humility that is the essence of those who live there. He grew up in the Hormel meatpacking city of Austin, Minnesota (population 25,000) where the world’s most favorite tinned meat, Spam, is still manufactured. The combination of growing up with both of his parents working proud – and now threatened – union jobs in an industrial meat factory, and his largely rural environment had a broad impact on him.
“Every morning you’d hear the [factory] whistles blow. When I was a kid they had the stockyards and animals there, so you were surrounded by this atmosphere,” Parr says. Out the back door were soybean fields, as far as the eye could see. “As a kid I thought it was kind of boring, but now I go and visit my mom and I think it’s the most beautiful landscape there is.”
Much like such stark environs his music also reflects a specific ascetic simplicity. He avoids the typical studio settings, opting instead for warehouses, garages, basements and storefronts, using only vintage equipment. It gives his work the historic feel of field recordings, not because he wants to sound like he was discovered 75 years ago by Alan Lomax, but because most modern recording studios make the perpetually reserved and self-effacing Parr feel uncomfortable.
After a health scare a few years back, he lives very simply; no alcohol, a vegan diet (ironic for one raised in Hormel land) that finds him often cooking up rice and beans on his engine manifold during the lonely, cross-country drives. He doesn’t go much for fashion and frills and lives simply on the road, usually sleeping in his car.
“My songs are inspired by family members, the Bible, overheard conversations and places in my life” he adds. Parr draws sustenance from the surprisingly large, thriving and mutually supportive music scene of Duluth: Keep Your Hands on the Plow, his 2011 album of traditional songs featured local players and friends, including his wife Emily, old-timey banjo/fiddle band Four Mile Portage, and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of the traditional band Low.
As for the songs – dating back to his 2002 debut Criminals and Sinners and weaving their way through the recently released Stumpjumper (with a dozen albums in between) – they reflect his complex relationship with his Methodist roots. “(Many of) the songs I’ve written seem to rely on God being a kind of big brother who shows up one day after you’ve been getting your ass kicked all over town by bullies and he takes care of business. I know, it’s juvenile, but take a close look at a lot of legitimate hymns – ‘when I die I’m gonna tell God what you did to me’ comes to mind.”
Parr embraces those roots but his recollection of the staid and repressive services is less generous. “It was more like, let’s get the service over quick so we can get downstairs and drink coffee and have pie!” Still that faith, however undefined, underlines his music, both in the listening, the covering, the writing and performing.
Stumpjumper is a somewhat different beast. It’s his first record made outside of Minnesota – choosing instead the friendly confines of a farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina – and the most energetic album he’s made. Recorded with a full band (another first) its eleven tracks were cut in a mere three days.
There’s an emphasis on “murder ballads” (“Evil Companion” and “Delia”) which is offset by the keen humor of “On Marrying A Woman With An Uncontrollable Temper” which gets my vote for best song title of the year. Having followed his music for some time I say with certainty that not only is Stumpjumper his strongest release yet it’s the one most reflective of his current direction and where he might be headed.
The album, as well as his upcoming Asheville performance (squeezed in between several festival appearances), are highly recommended for those who love traditional music with an authentic and quirky spin.
If You Go: Charlie Parr, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 8 p.m. for this all ages, seated show. Tickets are priced at $10 in advance and $12 day of. The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave., Asheville. (828) 232-5800, www.thegreyeagle.com.
