credit Shelley Mosman
CHARLIE PARR
ANNOUNCES UK & IRISH TOUR FOR MAY 2022
NEW ALBUM LAST OF THE BETTER DAYS AHEAD AVAILABLE NOW
“Hypnotic stories of low-key endurance and universal questions, like Raymond Carver’s fiction set to a louche, crystal-clear soundtrack” **** Mojo
US folk legend Charlie Parr heads to the UK & Ireland in May 2022 for an extensive tour in support of his acclaimed new album Last of the Better Days Ahead, available now via Smithsonian Folkways.
Full list of UK & Irish dates is as follows;
May 2022
Wed 4 Bristol Exchange
Thurs 5 Cork Winthrop Ave
Sat 7 Dublin Soundhouse
Mon 8 Belfast – The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
Wed 10 Glasgow – The Glad Cafe
Wed 11 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Cluny 2
Thurs 12 London – The Lexington
Sat 14 Brighton West Hill Hall
Sun 15 Forest Row Hop Yard
Tues 17 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Weds 18 Sheffield – The Boardwalk
Thurs 19 Manchester Gullivers
Fri 20 Birkenhead Future Yard
Sat 21 Abergavenny – The Chapel
Sun 22 Norwich Arts Centre
Tickets for all shows on-sale now via charlieparr.com/shows
The Minnesotan musician’s vast knowledge of traditional folk & blues and beautiful renditions of his own songs and those from the folk repertoire, not to mention his incredible fingerpicking on his trademark resonator guitar, have earned him a devoted worldwide fanbase and a reputation as one of the best roots musicians to catch live.
Last of the Better Days Ahead is Parr’s first release on Smithsonian Folkways, the non-profit record label of the Smithsonian Institute. The label is home to a diverse roster of contemporary artists such as Our Native Daughters and Kronos Quartet and also preserves and releases historical recordings from artists like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotten and more.
Over the course of a prolific career spanning thirteen full-length albums, Charlie Parr has become renowned for his strikingly candid songwriting and raw stage presence. His work digs deeply into his personal experiences with depression and the existential questions that weight it. Throughout Charlie’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. In Last of the Better Days you are met by someone who prizes quiet reflection over hustle, and who shuns distraction for a long walk in the woods.
Watch the official music videos for the singles “Last Of The Better Days Ahead”, “817 Oakland Avenue”, “Blues For Whitefish Lake, 1975”
“Hypnotic stories of low-key endurance and universal questions, like Raymond Carver’s fiction set to a louche, crystal-clear soundtrack” **** Mojo
“They don’t make them like Parr anymore — the sponge-like folk troubadour that imparts all he’s absorbed, beckoning us closer to sit cross-legged at his feet and listen, and to find crumbs of our own stories within his” No Depression
“Like John Hartford jamming with St Francis of Assisi” 8/10 Uncut
“A brilliant album, Last of the Better Days Ahead draws on the strengths of an impressive career and still expands the scope of Parr’s music…Truly Cosmic American music” Echoes And Dust
“Last Of The Better Days Ahead is an engrossing, captivating album from a tireless innovator” Folk Radio
“He documents stories and personal reflections that feel palpably real, woven from the frayed edges of America’s social fabric” Guitar World
