Charlie’s finely crafted folk is above Parr

If you want to hear music played with craft and passion, check out Charlie Parr’s show in Monroe’s Live on Wednesday, August 24.

Growing up in Austin, Minnesota, songwriter and guitarist Charlie found his ear for roots music by trawling through his father’s record collection.

“It was pretty variable, but there were a few blues records in there,” he says. “Just enough to get me curious about that type of music.”

As a young man in the 1980s, Charlie’s love for the songs of folk singer Spider John Kroener inspired him to move to Minneapolis.

“A friend of mine had told me about seeing Spider John play, and that was all I wanted to do,” Charlie says about a musician who is now 77.

“John is the one musician that I’ve seen live who, more than any other, has informed the way I approach folk songs. I don’t try to play like him, but I admire John’s attitude towards folk songs. He’ll take a folk song and make it his own, and he has a unique way of doing that.”

Charlie is becoming a veteran of the road himself – his biog mentions that he plays 250 shows a year. In fact, he plays more, he says.

“Last year I think I did 263 or something like that. That’s my life, I just want to play. I don’t mind the travelling right now. You’ve got to make hay while the sun shines, so when people ask me to play I usually go ahead and play.”

But the life of troubadour is not as romantic as it sounds. Being a touring musician means Charlie doesn’t get to see his kids, who are nine and 15, as much as he’d like.

“I miss them –  when I’m home I spend as much time as I can with them,” he says. “I’d love to have a garden where I could grow a tomato once in a while, but it’s hard to keep track of that kind of thing.  All the home-body instincts that I naturally have get pushed aside.”

So, is being on the road so much worth it?

“I’m trying to fit those other things in as best I can, we all have to do that I guess,” Charlie says. “When I was young, my dad worked in a packing house and he worked between 10 and 12 hours a day, sometimes six days a week. If I did see him, he’d be so wiped out he’d go to sleep in his chair. I think about that nowadays. When I see my kids, I try to be wide awake and do things they like to do, and be present for them.”

Charlie grew up in the Hormel meat-packing city of Austin, Minnesota, where Spam is still manufactured. Both his parents worked in the meat-packing industry, something that left an impression, as did the fact that the area was largely rural.

For more of tis interview with Charlie Parr see this week’ Tribune here