Charlie Parr

American country blues musician Charlie Parr closed out his second decade of recorded work with ‘Little Sun’, his eighteenth studio album, released on March 22, 2024, via Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. The release capped a career built far from the spotlight’s center, rooted in the working-class soundscapes of Minnesota.

Born in Austin, Minnesota, in 1967, Parr spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before launching his music career in Duluth. He absorbed the playing of Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt, along with his self-professed hero, Minneapolis blues figure “Spider” John Koerner. Armed with a Mule resonator, a National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, he developed a style steeped in the Piedmont blues tradition.

Parr’s reach stretched well beyond the Upper Midwest. His song “1922” appeared in Vodafone television advertisements across Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, prompting an Australian re-release of the album ‘1922’ on Melbourne’s Level 2 label. In 2009, he toured Australia with Paul Kelly, and his songs later featured in the Australian drama film Red Hill (2010), including “Just Like Today” over the closing credits. He has played Pickathon in Oregon, Willamina’s Wildwood MusicFest & Campout in 2012, and the Mid West Music Fest.

Before his death in 2024, Koerner handed Parr his own twelve-string Gretsch guitar, asking him to keep it on stage — a quiet passing of the torch between two Minnesota bluesmen.