Artist Charlie Parr

Joe Cunningham
Peter Martin

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Charlie Parr

In his overalls, scruffy beard, and feed cap, Charlie Parr looks like a farmer in town to pick up a part for repairing a grain silo or tractor. Then he’ll climb up on stage, cradle his 12-string or National steel guitar, and lay down some old-school country blues with passion, fire, and an innate feel for the folk music that grew out of the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia years ago. And you’ll still wonder if he’s a farmer. He’s just that down-to-earth. Parr recently released Roustabout, a spirited collection of songs about his favorite subject matter: drinking, murder, the hardscrabble struggle of being poor, and the mighty brought low (on a stellar interpretation of Blind Willie Johnson’s Titanic lament, “God Moves On The Water”).

Updated 07/03/2009