Charlie Parr Opening Act: Marisa Anderson

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Charlie Parr:

Parr is a master storyteller.

—PopMatters

Parr continues to spin life’s small details into profound lyrical observations of acceptance and wonder.

—Mojo

Marisa Anderson:

One of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation.

—New Yorker

She’s one of this era’s most powerful players.

—NPR

Charlie Parr is one of America’s finest country blues musicians. Over the course of a prolific career spanning 13 full-length albums, Parr has earned a passionate fan base for his strikingly candid songwriting and raw stage presence. His latest album—Last of the Better Days Ahead, his Smithsonian Folkways debut—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 rings clear over deft acoustic guitar playing that references folk and blues motifs in an exploratory, idiosyncratic style.

Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. Her deeply original work reimagines the landscape of American music, applying elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone, and 20^th-century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel, and country. Her work has been featured in Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, Spin, Pitchfork, the BBC, and The Wire, and she has performed at Big Ears, Pitchfork Midwinter, Le Guess Who, and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.