Charlie Parr shares ‘Boombox’ from his new album

“It’s a little different from the last one”, says Charlie Parr of his new album ‘Little Sun‘, his second release with Smithsonian Folkways (to be released on March 22nd – pre-order here), with whom he released Last Of The Better Days Ahead in 2021. I daresay that few expected his follow-up to be his first-ever album not to be recorded entirely live and produced by his close friend and collaborator Tucker Martine.

In an earlier newsletter to fans, Parr shared that “Up until this very album, my recordings have always been done live, with few if any overdubs and nearly always the first take—leave all the mistakes, missed lyrics, extraneous noise, and whatever else might happen there for the ages. Most records have been recorded in roughly the time that it took to play the songs. And that’s been fine, actually. Here’s a new way for me, though: here’s an album that was recorded live but in collaboration with producer Tucker Martine, who’s become a friend and trusted musical ally. You’ll hear what happened, so I don’t need to describe it to you, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with this very talented group of musicians.” He later shared that the album is “named for one of my musical heroes Tony “Little Sun” Glover, who made incredible music and writings right up until he passed at age 79.”

He also has some talented guests joining him, including acclaimed guitarist Marisa Anderson, Anna Tivel on backing vocals, Victor Krummenacher on bass, Andrew Borger on drums and Asher Fulero on keyboards.

Reflecting on the year and the experience of recording his new album, Parr shared in his newsletter: “I had a great time hanging out in Portland and recording with these folks and I’m very grateful to each of them for taking such care with my poor songs. After the record was recorded I left Portland with Marisa Anderson to tour our way along the west coast for a while. Marisa’s been one of my very favorite guitarists for many years and it was amazing to watch her play each night.”

Accompanying the album announcement is the lead single Boombox, an upbeat celebratory number on the power of music on which Parr says, “In this neighborhood, music is eternal and transcendent and surrounds us at all times, whether we’re listening or not. And it affects each of us differently, and that’s a gift. Listening to music can be interactive, even if you’re alone. I want to listen intentionally.”

He always tells it like it is…amen to that.