Charlie Parr – Dog
Red House Records – 8 September 2017
Tomorrow sees the release of Charlie Parr‘s new album ‘Dog‘ on Red House Records. Based in Duluth, MN, Parr has built a solid following both in the US and here in the UK thanks to his hard touring schedule which finds him on the road for some 300 days a year. He’s been making music for 42 years and has thirteen albums to his name. Despite this, he’s still considered to be a fringe artist by many although, for me, he knocks the spots off of those in the field. Cutting to the basics, he’s the real deal. His current label, Red House Records, mention how his songs exude a Midwestern sensibility and humility. Anyone that’s been lucky enough to see Charlie perform live will understand that sentiment; it’s impossible not to warm to the man. His upbringing will surely have had a part to play, as it does for all of us. Red House tie that down to his upbringing, his parents had “proud union jobs in an industrial meat factory” and “his largely rural environment had a broad impact on Parr’s writing.”
Parr has a natural ability of bringing his songs to life – he digs down deep with his writing, songs which are as revealing as they are contrasting – a reflection of life’s ups and downs, hopes and despair. The black dog on the cover of the album is a reference to his struggle with depression which he sings of on ‘Sometimes I’m Alright‘. He revealed the following on the making of the album via his website:
“Over the past couple years I’ve been dealing and continue to deal with clinical depression, and the songs on Dog all seem to reflect a little of my state of mind about that. I initially thought to do a solo record, all alone, since these songs felt very personal, but then I thought I should bring a lot of people in and make it a large ensemble record and try and lift that heavy mood, and I thought “why not do both?”, I could do two records, one version alone and one version with a whole mob of folks. Then I crashed into another bottom and I cancelled everything, called everyone I’d invited and told them it was all off. I decided to just try and forget about it for awhile, maybe now wasn’t the time anyway. The realization came over me that I actually needed to record these songs though, if only just to get them to move along and stop harassing me. One more time I called the infinitely patient and kind Tom Herbers and scheduled time at Creation Audio in Minneapolis, then on very short notice asked Mikkel Beckmen, Dave Hundrieser, Liz Draper and Jeff Mitchell to come over and listen to the songs and see where we could go. We sat in a big circle and played the songs mostly for the first time, even for me the songs readjusted themselves to my friends’ personalities and we managed to let them go. And I’m grateful, and I’m still working it all out, and I’m glad to be doing so.”
Earlier this year he released an EP I Ain’t Dead Yet, the title track of which features here, sounding his desire to be appreciated before his funeral. Check his live solo performance below which opens to one the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long time and on which his slide-playing shines brightly as always.
His first-person narratives are some of the most beautiful, a personal standout being the album opener HoBo. Another firm favourite is Peaceful Valley, about a hoarder who’s about to get evicted for which he recently unveiled this animated video:
Pre-Order on Amazon
Photo Credit Nate Ryan
