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Bluegrass at Sibyl!

Presented by Sibyl Center for Life Enrichment at Sibyl Center

August 12, 2011

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Charlie Parr: “One Man – One Guitar – One Foot In The Grave”

Duluth-based musician Charlie Parr brings his “intense sound…of America’s
frozen north” to the Sibyl Center Friday night August 12.
Parr grew up with a deep love for American roots music.
He has been variously described as bluegrass, folk, and country-blues and
has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio. Currently on tour in Montana,
Washington and Oregon, Parr will swing through Stanley on his way back to
dates in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He has been featured on Minnesota Public
Radio and has taken his gravelly voice and both his
12 string and steel-bodied National resonator guitars throughout the US and
overseas.

His “madcap guitar picking” has been featured on a Public Broadcasting
special, and heard on radio stations throughout the US and Europe.
He has an “enthusiasm for ancient murder ballads, early-20th-century field
recordings, and other music steeped in old American sounds, including
Piedmont blues and country blues”.
A native of southern Minnesota, his parents both worked for Hormel.
His dad constantly played Smithsonian recordings and other old folk,
country, and blues records. "It moved me in ways that other music never
actually did", Parr says and began playing guitar himself at age eight
without taking lessons. He relocated to the Twin Cities while still a
teenager and later earned a degree in philosophy from Augsburg College. In
the early '90s he got married and found steady work as a homeless outreach
worker for the Salvation Army. He and his wife moved to Duluth in 2000 and
after a couple years there and the birth of his children he turned to music
and fatherhood as full-time occupations. "In my personal life, I've got a
son and daughter, and my beautiful wife. It's hard to write lowdown,
pessimistic songs when you feel so good all the time”, but he does have a
talent for writing the blues.
Music magazines reviews have included this: “honest blood and guts…Parr’s
music cannot be absorbed in one hearing…”, “nimble-fingered” and an
ever-growing list of respected musicians give him praise. His raw vocals,
“lightning fingerpicking, and plaintive but wry songs have made him one of
the most important contemporary protagonists in the American folk
tradition”.

Earlier this year, Parr had been booked for two dates in the area:
August 11 at Oak Park Theater in Minot with arrangements by J & S
Productions, and August 12 at Sibyl Center. But the Mouse River flood,
which decimated the theater, has reduced the area dates to just one
opportunity in our area to hear Charlie Parr, that being the performance in
Stanley. Area bluegrass fans, take note.

Sibyl regulars should also take note of the time—typical Sibyl events are
most often held on Sunday afternoons with occasional evening events
beginning at 7. However, Parr’s show is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Friday, August 12. Admission is by free will donation at the door and the
Sibyl Center is located at 301, 1st St. SW. For more information about the
event call Janinne 628-3339, or log on to www.sibylcenter.org or
www.charlieparr.com. Parr’s website includes much more information about
the artist and his music, including song samples.