The SoundLounge

Charlie Parr

One spring day in 1979, a young Charlie Parr made his way down to East Side Lake in Austin, Minnesota carrying a Johnson 9.9 outboard motor and half of a gallon of gas. His pockets were stuffed with stolen cans of Blatz. The motor did him no good at the lake since he didn’t have a boat, but he was lucky and traded it to a truck driver at a nearby filling station for a beat up Gibson 12-string guitar. He kept the gas. A confused and shy individual, Charlie Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo. He’s released 6 cd’s, 4 of which are still available, the latest is called “Roustabout” and contains something like 14 tracks of original and traditional folk music recorded in true monophonic sound. Charlie Parr has failed at most things in his life. Music seems to have rendered him unemployable and is the only thing he’s ever done with any confidence. A lot of folks have been saying nice things about Charlie, despite the lingering odors and indecipherable comments he makes. It says a lot about folks; they’re hanging in there with him, in spite of himself.