Charlie Parr @ the Cedar 6/2

Charlie Parr has been a staple of the Duluth music scene for years, having been the anchor of the Wednesday night 'midweek blues bracer' at fitgers brewhouse for quite some time now. recently though, charlie has branched out and has been making a name for himself throughout minnesota. he was featured on 'a prairie home companion', giving him a national audience for a few minutes at a time, and has been on the cover of city pages as well. he is a brilliant guitarist and songwriter- i recall one writer remarking years ago that "most of charlies songs are about drinkin and killin". word.

because charlie works with homeless people in duluth, he has undoubtably seen some distressing things. obviously he spends a lot of time with people who are extermely down on their luck, and that can be heard in some of his lyrics, yet his songs are not miserable and depressing. there is something about him that is calming. his voice, mixed with his talents on the guitar and his good natured, lighthearted attitude that make him more entertaining and uplifting than one would expect someone who sings about 'drinkin and killin' to be.

charlie started off the show doing a song with his wife (who had their infant son strapped to her chest onstage) along with a washboard player. what a pretty voice she had, i had no idea she was a singer.

although i was initially a little disappointed to walk into the big gymnasium like venue that is the cedar cultural center and see it filled with people quietly occupying chairs, (i was hopin for a bit of a hoedown) it was a good set up afterall.

charlie has been a huge influence on one of my favorite bands of all time, trampled by turtles. more than once i have seen those four young musicians flank mr parr, two on either side, and watch on in admiration as those furiously fast forty fingers of tbt accentuate charlies own proficient guitar pickin.

charlie has clearly been impressed with the talents of trampled by turtles hiimself, and opening the show were dave simonett of TBT and ryan young, fiddle player for the outstanding minneapolis based blugrass band pert near sandstone. the two have been playing together (when neither of the two very much in demand bands have gigs) and they make a very subdued, intimate sound together. daves simple yet forceful lyrics are nicely complimented by the violin, but the two can also easily get peoples feet stomping when they get going on a quicker song.


a brief, sideways sample of how good charlie sounded:



still working out the details of the youtube thing, quality will be much better in the future with some new fancy equipment, i promise.

and here is charlie with dave s and ryan young and a dude rockin the washboards. the four finished out the show with a neil young cover