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Event
WIJAM Presents: Charlie Parr w/ Chris Gold at The Source Public House
WIJAM Presents
CHARLIE PARR
with special guest
Chris Gold
Saturday, March 24th, 2018
at The Source Public House
890 Lake Park Rd
Menasha, WI
10pm | 21+ | $10 Adv. | $15 DOS
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Fans who have been following Charlie Parr through his previous 13 full-length albums and decades of nonstop touring already know that the Duluth-based songwriter has a way of carving a path straight to the gut. On his newest record, Dog, however, he seems to be digging deeper and hitting those nerves quicker than ever before.
I want my son to have this when Im gone, Charlie sings not 10 seconds into the opening song on Dog, Hobo. His voice sounds weary but insistent, his accompaniment sparse and sorrowful. By the second line, the listener has no choice but to be transported on a journey through the burrows of his troubled mind, following him through shadowy twists and turns as he searches for a way out.
It turns out Charlies been grappling with quite a bit over these past few years. As he prepares to release his new album on Red House Records this fall, hes just as candid about discussing his experiences in person as he is while singing on the heat-rending Dog.
I had some really, really bad depression problems over the last couple years, Charlie explains. I've been trying to get fit, trying not to drink so much, trying not to do the rock 'n' roll guy thing. And then I got depressed. Really depressed. And to me, depression feels like there's me, and then there's this kind of hazy fog of rancid jello all around me, that you can't feel your way out of. And then there's this really, really horrible third thing, this impulsive thing, that doesn't feel like it's me or my depression. It feels like it's coming from outside somewhere. And it's the thing that comes on you all of a sudden, and it's the voice of suicide, it's the voice of quit.
These songs have all kind of come out of that. Especially songs like Salt Water and Dog, they really came heavily out of just being depressed, and having to say something about it.
Sometimes Im alright
Other times its hard to tell
Like finding light in the bottom of the darkest well
Sometimes Im Alright
In the albums quieter moments, Charlie confronts these issues head-on, using only an acoustic guitar or banjo to light the way. But the incredible thing about Dog is that it digs into dark matter and contemplates serious topics like mental illness and mortality while embracing a pulse of persistence and forward
motion; throughout the album, more and more musicians seem to be joining in the fray as the tempo builds, keeping the overall vibe upbeat.
I was going to do it completely solo, Charlie says. I was going to go to this barn in Wisconsin, sit there and play my songs. And I was practicing them and I thought, this is devastating. These songs are hard to hear in this format. I would never be able to listen to them again. And then my friend Tom Herbers, he saw something was wrong. We talked, booked time at Creation Audio, and made a plan to flesh out the album with a backing band.
So Charlie called on some longtime friends who hes collaborated with throughout his career: the experimental folk artist Jeff Mitchell, percussionist Mikkel Beckman, harmonica player Dave Hundreiser, and bassist Liz Draper, who traded her typical upright bass in for an electric at Charlies request. The group found an instant chemistry in the studio, capturing some of the tracks on the first take.
I wrote all the lyrics on these giant pieces of paper, and I had highlighters, and I assigned them each a color. I was going to be super organized, Charlie remembers. And then we started playing, and all of a sudden none of that even mattered. These stupid highlighters, the pieces of paper I should have just trusted in the beginning that these friends would know how to take care of my songs.
You claim the bed lifted up off the floor
Well, how do you know Im not as good as you are?
A soul is a soul is a soul is a soul
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LocationThe Source Public House (View)
890 Lake Park Road
Menasha, WI 54952
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
| Owner: Curt Biese |
| On BPT Since: Sep 16, 2017 |
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| WIJAM |
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