Next week, Eau Claire, Wisconsin music festival Blue Ox makes its return for its 11th edition with another fantastically diverse lineup from top to bottom. Check out our festival preview here. Before we pack our bags and get ready for a few days of amazing music and experiences, we’d like to highlight a couple of Minnesota artists who have been cornerstones to the festival thanks in part to their decades worth of incredible music.
We previously introduced you to Pert Near Sandstone, the Twin Cities-based band that hosts and curates the festival’s lineup. Now, we’re excited to highlight another amazing Minnesota-based artist. This time, it’s Duluth singer-songwriter and musician Charlie Parr. Longtime SWT readers might be familiar already, as we reviewed his 2024 album Little Sun. Parr has delighted festival goers at Blue Ox on multiple occasions over the years with his raw, honest, and authentic take on folk, blues, and country.
[Alex: If you’ve seen him at Blue Ox or anywhere on Charlie’s many tours across the Midwest and to other parts of this country, you not only remember his songs and his voice, delivery, and tone but also the lyrics. His live shows stick with you. Soon, you’ll also have several or all of his albums and have seen him at least a handful of times. I know I am part of that club, and Josh is too, and so are many of our music-loving friends. It’s a club you won’t regret joining.]
Parr’s influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Mississippi John Hurt, and his self-professed “hero”, Spider John Koerner (who, before his death in 2024, gave Parr his 12-string Gretsch guitar to continue playing). Over the years, he’s played Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style.
He’s released eighteen studio albums between 2002 and 2024: Criminals & Sinners (2002), 1922 (2002), King Earl (2004), Rooster (2005), Backslider (2006), Jubilee (2007), Roustabout (2008), When the Devil Goes Blind (2010), Keep Your Hands on the Plow (2011), Barnswallow (2013), I Dreamed I Saw Paul Bunyan Last Night (2013), Live at the Brewhouse (2013), Hollandale (2014), Stumpjumper (2015), Dog (2017), Charlie Parr (2019), Last of the Better Days Ahead (2021), Little Sun (2024).
[Alex: If you’re starting your journey into Charlie’s music, I recommend starting at Barnswallow and working forward or backward in time. Though others may recommend 1922, or Stumpjumper, or Rooster, there’s no bad place to start with Charlie’s music.]
Parr will be playing Friday at the Main Stage from 1:45 – 2:45 PM. Josh caught up with him recently to learn more about his music.
Last year, you released your eighteenth studio album, Little Sun. Why does songwriting come so naturally for you? What do you like about being so prolific?
I don’t know. I don’t feel very prolific; I try to be prepared to write whenever I feel inspired and that inspiration seems to show up either all at once or not at all. I try not to be impatient, I’m happy when I feel inspired to write, and when the inspiration isn’t there, then I just wait.
Little Sun has several meanings. First, there’s harmonica player Tony Glover, whose nickname was “Little Sun”. It’s also a tribute to music and the importance of listening to music actively, even as you grow older. There are also themes of place, community, and finding solace in the natural world. What do you like about the all-encompassing nature of the phrase? Why is it a perfect phrase to apply to you and your music?
“Little Sun” is basically a tribute to the way Tony very generously gave of his time to encourage young musicians (all his life!) and encouraged all of us to be present for music whenever and wherever it showed up. I believe that music is eternal, that it wasn’t created and cannot be destroyed, that we can’t ‘write music’, but we can participate in it, move it around, explore it, and be enriched by it. If you’re listening for it, you’ll hear music in nearly everything – from the voices of your friends to the birds and the wind outside, and even to the hum of tires on the highway or the hissing of the espresso machine at the coffee shop.
What song from the album has especially taken on new life in the live setting?
These songs have all changed since the recording took place – all songs do that, I think, none of them ever feel like they’re truly ‘done’ or completely written – I kind of participate in a kind of re-writing during every show, depending on how I feel. “Little Sun” has gone through an extensive re-working, I’ve changed the key, the tempo, and even the structure of the chords to make it ride a little easier as a solo song.
During many of your shows, you switch between banjo and guitar. What do you like about that flexibility?
Unfortunately, I can’t play the banjo anymore due to Focal Dystonia. It took a good while for me to feel confident on the guitar again, but the banjo never came back for me, and I finally got rid of mine, which broke my heart. I have a few alternate tunings that are related to tunings I used on the banjo, so these days I retune the guitar to play the banjo songs on, and that’s been fine.
You’ve played a variety of styles, including folk and blues, and your songs are often characterized by their rawness and intimacy. Why is it important to be versatile and have those qualities in your music?
I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t want to be bored by my own music, and I try to find spaces within the folk-blues to stretch out a bit and make it a little more interesting for myself, but I’ve never seen myself as being particularly versatile.
What are your current plans for new music?
I’m writing a new record now and I hope to be recording it this coming winter; I’m also involved in a couple of instrumental projects that I’d like to record and release some music for, as well as a couple of collaborations that will hopefully work out. Something new will be coming out within the next year or so, though.
You can follow and listen to Charlie Parr at the links below:
- Instagram: instagram.com/charlie.parr/
- Facebook: facebook.com/Charlie.Parr.Music/
- YouTube: youtube.com/@TheCharlieParr
- Bandcamp: charlieparrmusic.bandcamp.com/
- Spotify: Charlie Parr on Spotify
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
