Roustabout by Charlie Parr

Roustabout was recorded by Tom Herbers using a portable reel-to-reel normally used for movie soundtrack work. We recorded in Mikkel's front room, Dave's front room, the Clown Lounge (basement to the Turf Club in St. Paul), the lounge at Ed's (no name) Bar in Winona and generally had a great month bumming around Minnesota with this machine looking for quiet places to sit down and record. The fidelity is low, and the phonic is mono, getting us a lot of flack from radio stations but I like it alright anyway. The instrumental track, "adrift in lake Superior at sunrise" has also garnered a lot of reverse praise, and was achieved by scraping a violin bow over the strings of my National. I think it's still my favorite track from this record, even if I'm all alone in that.

Reviews
"Of the twelve tracks nine are Parr originals and three are traditionals. That you can’t tell which songs are originals and which are not says a lot for just how authentic Parr’s song writing is. Listen to ‘Farmer’ with Dave Hundreiser on harmonica and Parr growling away and tell me you are not listening to some genuine blues performer." - Penny Black Music

"You're not gonna find any FM radio-friendly tracks amongst the 45 minutes of Roustabout, but that's hardly the measure of an album, and this is one where its authenticity speaks for itself." - Soulshine

Tracklist

1.	Don't Send Your Child To War	3:35

2.	Far Cry From Fargo	3:18

3.	Walk Around My Bedside	3:29

4.	Warmin' By The Devil's Fire	3:00

5.	Midnight Has Come & Gone	7:58

6.	Come Along and See	3:35

7.	Adrift In Lake Superior At Sunrise	2:46

8.	Cropduster	1:53

9.	Last Payday At Coal Creek	3:45

10.	The B&J Ain't Nothing But A Hole In The Ground	2:59

11.	Farmer	4:14

12.	God Moves On The Water	3:51

Credits

released November 20, 2008

National Steel-bodied guitar, 12-string guitar, banjo, vocals – Charlie Parr
Washboard, Bass Drum, Percussion [Chopsticks, Boards, Shovel & Hammer] – Mikkel Beckmen
Harmonica – Dave Hundreiser
Vocals on "Walk Around My Bedside" by Emily Parr
Additional guitar and vocals on "God Moves On The Water" by Dave Simonett
Fiddle on "God Moves On The Water" by Ryan Young

Engineered and mastered by Tom Herbers
Artwork by Shaun Chosa
Design & All Things Web-related by Christian McShane

All songs by Charlie Parr except tracks 3, 9, & 12 trad. arr. Parr

License