Charlie Parr (from the album Little Sun

Charlie Parr (from the album Little Sun

Charlie Parr (from the album Little Sun available on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings) (by Danny McCloskey)
Charlie Parr wanders down “Portland Avenue” to open his latest release, Little Sun. The track sways to a shuffle, setting the standard for the album. Questions are asked as “Stray” lays out the tale of a hard-worn traveler while Charlie Parr sets “Pale Fire” ablaze with a plaintive testimonial and picks up the pace when he turns up the beat for “Boombox”. Little Sun separates itself from the recording of previous releases, Charlie explaining that ‘up until this very album, my recordings have always been done live, with few if any overdubs and nearly always the first take—leave all the mistakes, missed lyrics, extraneous noise, and whatever else might happen there for the ages. Most records have been recorded in roughly the time that it took to play the songs. And that’s been fine, actually. Here’s a new way for me, though: here’s an album that was recorded live but in collaboration with producer Tucker Martine (Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket), who’s become a friend and trusted musical ally. You’ll hear what happened, so I don’t need to describe it to you, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with this very talented group of musicians’.
 
For his eighteenth album release, Charlie Parr surrounded himself with A-list players such as Marisa Anderson (guitar) Anna Tivel (background vocals), Andrew Borger (drums, percussion), Asher Fulero (piano, Hammond, keys) and Victor Krummenacher (electric bass, upright bass, bass VI). Little Sun rattles and rolls underneath the story in “Ten Watt” and plays out an extended jam for the dreamlike journey of “Bear Head Lake” as Charlie Parr stomps out a beat for a tale in the title track and exits the album on a smooth groove of “Sloth”.  (by Danny McCloskey)
 
Listen and buy the music of Charlie Parr from AMAZON
 
For more information, head to the Charlie Parr website