Charlie Parr
Album: Barnswallow
Label: Tin Angel
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.charlieparr.com

Operating on the cusp of country blues and folk, Minnesota-born and -raised Charlie's been conveniently labelled "the voice of authenticity" and "the inheritor of the spirit of Harry Smith" for a long while now, and yet rather inexplicably (and despite several successful UK tours to date) his name's still not one that's mentioned in too many dispatches. I wrote those words back in 2009, I see, at a time when I'd only just discovered Charlie quite by accident; since which time, I now learn, he's gone and released no fewer than two more albums which for some weird reason hadn't gotten sent to me for review - before the appearance last month of this new record, Barnswallow (his eleventh studio album!), long before the birds concerned get to make their own appearance in this country for the summer months… (is it at all indicative that the disc doesn't even include its title track? - in an interview on his website, Charlie states that it was an instrumental that got left off the tracklist at final cut…).

Anyway, Charlie's latest disc presents much the mixture as before, in that a set of fine new self-penned numbers are topped up with a couple of traditional country-blues songs. Once again Charlie draws on the accompanying talents of Mikkel Beckmen (washboard & percussion) and Dave Hundreiser (harmonica), with Charlie's wife Emily taking on some backing vocal work on Jesus Is A Hobo. The raw and fresh qualities of the music are accentuated by the largely-first-take nature of the recordings, done live in the studio in a matter of just a few hours, and the home-grown nature of the playing (Charlie's custom-built 12-string, National resonator and fretless banjo make all the authentic sounds). Primitive it may be, but it's all intensely captivating stuff in the Harry Smith spirit, and the intrinsic poetry of Charlie's lyrics rings absolutely true in a way that reflects our own life-views with simple philosophical caveats. This latest batch of songs reflects many of the personal struggles in Charlie's life since 2010, and does so with an uncompromising honesty. Stylistically, Charlie runs the gamut of country-folk-blues, from tingling, niftily-picked excursions like Badger and Groundhog Day Blues through old-time moaner My Wife and the rustic take on Henry Goes To The Bank to the southern-fried True Friends, the more rambling, even reflective commentary Jesus Is A Hobo and the energy-fuelled Motorcycle Blues (that ol' harmonica of Dave's excelling here), and although there's a couple of items at the start that perhaps run on a bit (Jimmy Bell and Nowhere… Fast), the bulk of this disc doesn't outstay its welcome one iota, and its 41 minutes are over before you know it.

Timeless and enduringly satisfying real-deal country-blues for the enthusiast.

David Kidman