CHARLIE PARR – WHEN THE DEVIL GOES BLIND
- Author:
- Chris Peken
- Posted:
- Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Charlie Parr, by his own admission is a touch shy, hopeless at promoting his own albums, and has bad hygiene. At least two of those might explain why you haven’t yet heard of Charlie. But you may well have heard him, his foot-tapping old-time folk tune 1922 was used in Vodafone’s popular “folding” add. You see Charlie has done many things, and never been much good at any of them other than music; but he has been quietly recording in living rooms, barns and porches for six albums now; and When the Devil Goes Blind is the first time he has ventured into the studio with his trusty National Resonator guitar (folkies know what i’m talking about, fopr the others think the cover of Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms). The result is something even Charlie is happy to peddle (when he remembers that is). One man, his guitar and vocal; and when Charlie tells you Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down you believe him. The delicate picking on 1980 provides a beautiful mid-album counterpoint as he tells the story of an Indian massacre. With a base in the Piedmont blues, a playing style that is heart and enthusiasm over finesse, and a raspy voice that echoes decades long gone, Charlie Parr is the real deal and When the Devil Goes Blind is music as it should be. Parr is coming to Sydney in late September and shouldn’t be missed (I’m sure he will bathe before then).
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Story posted on Tuesday, 31 August 2010, filed under CD Reviews. Follow responses via the RSS feed.
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