(Charlie Parr | Photo courtesy of Sisters Folk Festival)
Sisters Folk Festival (SFF) presents a special concert with Charlie Parr and Marisa Anderson at The Belfry on Sunday, March 12 at 7pm. Charlie Parr is an incorruptible outsider who writes novelistic, multi-layered stories that shine a kaleidoscopic light on defiant, unseen characters thriving in the shadows all around us. Parr is supported by Marisa Anderson, referred to by The New Yorker as “one of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation.” Attendees can expect to hear timeless original music and soulful performances by masters of their crafts. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, February 15 at 10am at aftontickets.com/SFFCharlieParr.
An easily confused and very shy individual born and raised in Austin, Minnesota, Charlie Parr first grabbed a guitar at age eight. To date, he has never had a formal lesson, but wows crowds with his incredible fingerpicking on his 12 string baritone resonator, guitar and banjo. All that locomotive melodic work is simply the scenery in the tales he’s spinning lyrically. Early in his career, Parr was employed by the Salvation Army as an outreach worker. He spent his days tracking the homeless in Minneapolis, providing blankets and resources. But they offered him something greater in return. The experience completely rewired him and left him with a newfound respect for human resilience.
Throughout Parr’s music you can hear his sense of place. These are songs from the iron country. They are tales from the paper mill. You can hear the fisheries and the Boundary Waters. His new album, Last of The Better Days Ahead, is a collection of powerful songs about how one looks back on a life lived, as well as forward on what’s still to come. Its spare production foregrounds Parr’s poetic lyricism, his expressive, gritty voice ringing clear over deft acoustic guitar playing that references folk and blues motifs in Parr’s own exploratory, idiosyncratic style.
To balance Parr’s prolific lyricism, Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition with stunning instrumental tracks. Her deeply original work applies elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th-century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country music, re-imagining the landscape of American music. Her work has been featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, SPIN, Pitchfork, the BBC and The Wire.
Anderson’s music is inviting and candid, beckoning the listener into sprawling ecosystems and intimate corners alike. She expertly translates abstractions into undeniably moving music, tracing through traditional folk tunes, imagined Sci-Fi films and foggy sanctuaries of sound. The 2022 solo album Still, Here reveals Anderson at her most direct, laying bare her practice of processing and understanding the world through music and distilling that practice into pieces as expressive as they are transfixing.
The concert will be held at The Belfry at 302 E. Main Ave. Doors open at 6pm and the show will start at 7pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for youth/students. Additional artist information can be found on the SFF website at sistersfolkfestival.org. This is a general admission, all ages show.