Record Review, Charlie Parr, Roustabout

Artist: Charlie Parr
Source: David Lynch

First a question, has the soundtrack from Oh Brother Where Art Thou? got a special place in your music collection? If so then, Roustabout, the latest album from folk and country blues hero Charlie Parr, is definitely worth a listen.

The man from Duluth, Minnesota has put together a fine piece of work. The record was recorded live to tape in various places; a friend’s living room, a garage, a basement, and in spare rooms next to a local bar. This provides the album with an authentic character and along with the style of music, and inclusions of traditional arrangements, echoes the style of an album that could easily have been recorded in the early era of blues.

Opener Don’t Send Your Child To War leaps out of the traps like a greyhound, with banjo and steel guitar mixed with raspy, shouted, vocals and sounds like it would be equally relevant if it had been written during the American Civil War, (obviously it wasn't). It deals with the trials of an elderly family left to look after a farm when their eldest son leaves for war. This is a consistent thread throughout the album as Parr describes the trials and tribulations of life in rural America.

Parr’s skill on guitar is incredible with blues licks, lightning fast picking and slides all interspersed on his trademark National Resonator steel guitar. Other instruments such as harmonica, fiddle and bass drum stop the album from falling into repetitive folk guitar territory.

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