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Event
An Evening with Charlie Parr and Special Guest J.D. Wilkes
Join us for the latest installment of the Trade Root Music Group house concert series: a very special evening featuring intimate solo performances from two incredibly talented performers of American music:
CHARLIE PARR
Many people play roots music, but few modern musicians live those roots like Minnesota's Charlie Parr. Recording since the earliest days of the 21st century, Parr's heartfelt and plaintive original folk blues and traditional spirituals don't strive for authenticity: They are authentic. It's the music of a self-taught guitarist and banjo player who grew up without a TV but with his dad's recordings of America's musical founding fathers, including Charley Patton and Lightnin' Hopkins, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. With his long scraggly hair, fathertime beard, thrift-store workingman's flannel and jeans, and emphatic, throaty voice, Parr looks and sounds like he would have fit right into Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music."
Parr uses three instruments, not including his own stomping foot. He got an 1890 banjo the first time he heard Dock Boggs. "I don't do claw hammer, I don't do Scruggs-style,it's just a version of me trying to play like Dock Boggs, I guess," Parr says. He has two Nationals, a 12-string and a Resonator, which became an obsession when Parr saw a picture of Son House playing it. "The first time I got my paws on one, I went into debt to buy it," he says. "Nationals are fun because they are as much mechanical as instrumental, you can take them apart and put them back together again." On an overseas tour, the neck of the Resonator broke in baggage: he played the guitar by shimming the neck inside the body with popsicle sticks. "It solidifies your relationship with the instrument so much: It's as much part of you as anything else."
J.D WILKES
J.D. Wilkes is an American visual artist, musician, author, amateur filmmaker and self-proclaimed "southern surrealist". Wilkes, a resident of Paducah, Kentucky, is a Kentucky Colonel, an honorable title bestowed by the state's Governor upon those with a connection to, or are famous residents of Kentucky. He is also an accomplished harmonica player, having recorded for such artists as Merle Haggard, John Carter Cash, Mike Patton, and Hank Williams III.
Wilkes is known as the founder of The Legendary Shack Shakers, a rockabilly/blues band he formed in the mid 90's. Regarding the band's "southern gothic" lyricism, Billboard Magazine said "(Wilkes writes) mind-blowing lyrics rife with Biblical references and ruminations of life, death, sin and redemption. His new album "Cattle in the Cane" features both solo performances and tunes performed with legendary Kentucky fiddler Charlie Stamper.
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LocationTrade Root Music Group House Concerts (View)
5523 2nd St NW
Washington, DC 20011
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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