Parr, Charlie / When The Devil Goes Blind

Nero’s Neptune

Where do you start when you want to sing the praises of a man who would, in a just world, already be a household name? I suppose that you could talk about how CHARLIE PARR’s spellbinding finger picking and slide techniques on guitar and banjo place him front & center among the world’s foremost string-benders. Or you could try to explain how Charlie’s blood & guts songs are infused with an originality, integrity and heart rarely (if ever) displayed by contemporaries operating in or around pre-war blues traditions. Further, you might extrapolate on how Parr’s performing career (which began in 1988) has taken him from Twin Cities bars and coffeehouses—studying resident greats like Dave Ray and Spider John Koerner—to the year 2010, where he’s enjoying an ever-growing fan base comprised of folk-blues purists, American Primitive beard-scratchers, jam band-lovin’ neo-hippies, and, well, just about every type of person imaginable. Charlie’s new record, When The Devil Goes Blind, is easily his most fully realized effort to date.

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