Charlie Parr brings "Little Sun" to Europe on tour starting this week

If Neil Young had written the song The Loner with anyone in mind besides himself, it could well have been Charlie Parr. If ever there was a living embodiment of the characteristics that make up a solitary individualist following their own path, it must be Charlie. He released his eighteenth album, Little Sun, in a prolific career that has seen him pay no mind to anything even vaguely resembling a commercial career plan. By his own admission, he is a man who lives for the creative process in music making and performance and who always has an exit strategy close to hand. Charlie feels at home with the freedom of the open road; he never wants to overburden himself with social interactions, so if the urge to leave has a stronger pull, he does just that: he gets up and leaves. This unshackled lifestyle has always extended to the recording studio, an environment he historically has wanted to get in and out of with minimum fuss and maximum speed.

Consequently, all Charlie’s albums, to this point, have been recorded live, often as one or first-take efforts with any minor errors or imperfections left in. But things have changed; Little Sun is to be the first Parr album where the hand of a producer, Tucker Martine, is clearly in evidence and the first record in which the artist has explored the process with overdub touches and a more rounded, expansive band sound. As great as the ramshackle approach undoubtedly was, the end product does rather suggest this is a very welcome evolution.

Fans of Charlie Parr will hold this one up with the best of his catalogue, but with the attention-grabbing, easy-on-the-ear production of Little Sun, there is a strong possibility for new converts to land at his door too. Anyone with an ear for singer-songwriters of an independent grain with a facility for turning their preoccupations into instantly classic-sounding songs will find much to love and admire in the music of Charlie Parr, and there might be no better place to start than right here. 

Charlie Parr will be on tour throughout Europe starting this week!

05/09: Baars, NL - Speelplaats Baars
06/09: Mechelen, BE - Outdoor Willowfest 42
07/09: Herent, BE - Sortie Blues
08/09: Eindhoven, NL - Effenaar
09/09: Lint, BE - 't Groot Verzet
10/09: Coventry, UK - The Tin Music Arts
11/09: Glasgow, UK - The Glad Café
12/09: Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
13/09: Abergavenny, UK - The Art Shop & Chapel
14/09: Manchester, UK - Gullivers
15/09: Birkenhead, UK - Future Yard
16/09: Sheffield, UK - Greystones
17/09: Birmingham, UK - Kitchen Garden Café
18/09: Bristol, UK - The Exchange
19/09: York, UK - Pocklington Arts Centre
20/09: London, UK - The Moth Club
21/09: Dorking, UK - St Marys Sessions
22/09: Lewes, UK - Con Club
24/09: Middelburg, NL - De Spot
25/09: Paris, FR - Supersonic Records
26/09: Venlo, NL - Jacobskapel
27/09: Assen, NL - Promising Crossroads
28/09: Bremen, DE - Schule 21
29/09: Roding, DE - Tennis Club
01/10: Munich, DE - Vintage Pub
02/10: Zürich, CH - Bogen F
05/10: Katowice, PL - Rawa Blues Festival
06/10: Prague, CZ - Zasekávák
08/10: Bergneustadt, DE - Schauspielhaus
09/10: Berlin, DE - Privatclub
10/10: Norderstedt, DE - Music Star
11/10: Copenhagen, DK - Beta
13/10: Rotterdam, NL - New Grounds