I was sent Charlie Parr’s new album at the end of last year and am pleased now to have a chance to say a few things about it.  It’s great.  Really good.  Terrific.

You might remember I raved a bit about Seasick Steve’s latest outing, and without wanting to take anything away from Steve, I think it is fair to say that a couple of listens to this Charlie Parr album is instructive.  Both albums are steeped in blues, though Seasick Steve has more of a boogie edge, so I’m not exactly comparing like with like.  But to the extent that they both draw on blues roots, the Charlie Parr is an object lesson in authenticity; he makes Seasick Steve sound like some West Coast pop singer.  Now, ‘authenticity’ is one of those overused words in music that is rarely defined: it often falls into the sort of category that allowed a US judge to once say something to the effect that he mightn’t be able to define pornography but he knew it when he saw it.  Same with authenticity.

My definition would be something along the lines of that quality or feel the music has that reproduces, without copying, the sound of the earliest recorded blues players.  It is to do with timbre and attitude, the way words are phrased, the way notes are plucked and/or slid into.  It is less to do with technical virtuosity than with the way feeling translates itself between finger and fretboard, mouth and microphone.  Have a listen to the opening track, ‘Don’t Send You Child to War’, and you’ll know it when he hear it.

The ‘authenticity’ thing of the album is aided and abetted by the recording techniques used.  To quote the press release: ‘Roustabout is a field recording in true monophonic sound recorded in a variety of locations including living rooms, garages, bar room basements, and empty shopfronts throughout his home state.’  This sort of low-fi, unadorned recording method can be a bit of gimmick, but it sounds right here.  I can’t imagine that a more up-to-date studio recording would’ve elicited a better or more appropriate sound.

The album isn’t straight blues, however.  It also draws on traditional American country music, so I think it is fair to say it is mixing black and white roots music and it is peppered with themes common to all such music: death, loneliness, god, love, death, regret, and, oh yeah, death.  Most of them are original Parr compositions, but there are a couple traditional numbers in there, not least of which is a fantastic, rollicking version of ‘God Moves on the Water’.

I’m not going to go on about it.  This is a high quality album of American roots music that I’m very pleased to have in my collection. Go have a listen.

PS: Charlie is in the country at the moment and you still have a chance to catch him if you are in Victoria.   Info can be found here.