Something Unseen in the Commonplace | A Conversation with Charlie Parr
Interviews
By Gene Kwak
Charlie Parr is one of the truest, living bluesmen, a throwback like the original Mountain Dew logo. Inspired by the repeated spins of his father’s record collection: a who’s who of country, blues, and folk greats from Lightnin’ Hopkins to Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie to Mance Lipscomb, he started string tinkering at eight then shifted into serious playing in the ‘80s and has been blessing fans with over twenty albums since. Charlie’s warbles and strums have the resonant feeling of bygone times whether new or in tribute. Like how all fresh water still has a hint of old water. He tours constantly and pays his dues to the music, to the crowds. The day after our interview he was leaving for another jaunt through the East Coast to be followed by a trek back across the Midwest.
Recently, he came out with his first book of fiction, Last of the Better Days Ahead, with the indie publisher, Ramshackle Press. The book takes up the same name as his Folkways record released in 2021, and the songs and fictions even share the same titles, only like George Foreman naming all his children George, while they’re similar in name and share some DNA, they stand on their own in the world.
Charlie’s fictions or vignettes are about hardscrabble, working-class folks just trying to get along. Just trying to survive. People clean fish, grade driveways, ride bikes, cut up tires, get lost in the streets. Everyday patterns you might discount at first blush, but then someone beckons you to pay attention. Look closer. And then something unseen in the commonplace reveals itself to you, not beauty, not that simple, but something deeply human and sometimes beautiful too, and all it takes is a second look, a deeper gaze. Charlie Parr is pointing that celestial finger. Or maybe fingerpicking the background music while we watch on.
Charlie Parr described Charlie Parr’s writing best: it’s like working at a small-town gas station and meeting passersby who zoom in and out of your life, only getting glimpses of what they showed up in and who they are reflected in the minor decisions of their everyday lives. I was lucky enough to chat with Charlie via Zoom in late November. This is that conversation.
Gene Kwak has published in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, Lit Hub, Wigleaf, and Electric Literature among others. Go Home, Ricky! is his debut novel and was a Rumpus October Book Club Selection, was featured in Vanity Fair magazine and Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and has garnered rave reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist among others. He is also the winner of the 2022 Poets & Writers Maureen Egen WEX Prize, has attended workshops at Tin House and Yale, and soon plans to attend a residency through Ragdale. He is also a Periplus mentor and in the fall he will be an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Oklahoma State University.
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