Charlie Parr
Higher Ground, Showcase Lounge
South Burlington, VT
July 27, 2018

Charlie Parr was downright dazzling in Higher Ground's Showcase Lounge Friday July 27. And if that seems hyperbole given his somewhat subdued concert in the same room last autumn, it probably shouldn't: with some eight more months of touring in his mini-van, the deceptively bedraggled looking bluesman has transcended the level of earnest disciple of the genre who was mesmerized (and mesmerizing) through immersion in his own musicianship this past October.

Parr displayed a master's abandon in his playing and singing during his latest single set at the venue. It was all without any overt histrionics too and he also exhibited a markedly higher level of self-assurance no doubt rooted in the deft precision with which he picked and strummed, alternating between a twelve-string acoustic and an electrified resonator cum bottleneck. Thus, it's hardly a surprise that, by only his third number, "Peaceful Valley," Charlie had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Of course, there was no question the audience in this small room was ready to pay close attention. Attendance of roughly fifty people hardly allows for hangers on, but it's nevertheless noteworthy that, during the ninety minutes approximate Parr sat alone onstage. only a couple cell phones flashed and then only briefly (one thankfully relegated to the vicinity of the bar in the back).

Once this man began to play, after shuffling on stage sans intro, then tuning up without a word, he brought virtually everyone on the room close to him physically and psychically. As a result, his self-effacing demeanor, coupled with humorous between-song repartee created an upbeat and relaxed atmosphere that belied the portent in recurring themes of death and dislocation ("Ain't No Grave," "Mastodon") that permeated many of his song selections.

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