11/26 Trampled by Turtles with Charlie Parr at Armory
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Trampled by Turtles made a long-anticipated appearance in the Twin Cities, bringing along a few of their friends from Duluth, MN to mark the return.
Charlie Parr opened up with his weathered steel guitar and friend, Mick, playing what Parr called: “The washing machine.” Even with no band Parr had no trouble filling the cavernous space of the Armory with an earthy voice that rose to all three levels and into the rafters of the venue.
Born in Austin, MN and now residing in Duluth, Parr’s musical style of folk and blues seems to be from another era. Still, he instantly connected with the sold out crowd with a generous set of 12 songs ranging from a career that has produced 16 albums. A favorite of the evening was “Cheap Wine” in which a liquor owner fails to see much difference between his customers:
All these old ladies
Comin’ in here buyin’ cheap wine
Ain’t no better than all these bums
Comin’ in here and buy cheap wine
Parr then paid homage to a hero of his, Spider John Koerner, with the rollick-driven “Rocky Raccoon”. He then featured the title song from his latest album “Last of the Better Days Ahead”.
It wasn’t far from the venue where Parr got the feel for the life of a blues musician. It was working down the street at the Minneapolis Salvation Army where he met the lives of individuals that would inspire and find prominent roles in his songs.
Parr ended the set with Charley Patton’s “Oh Death” by setting down his guitar and belting out the lyrics with a lament so forceful he held his arms close to his body as if to keep his rib cage from rattling.
Trampled by Turtles is an interesting band in terms of being a popular musical act. They have a front man in Dave Simonett on lead vocal and guitar, but every member is an intricate part of their bluegrass success: Ryan Young of fiddle, Tim Saxhaug on acoustic bass, Erik Berry on Mandolin, Dave Carroll on banjo and Eamonn McLain on cello.
TBT started off the evening with “It’s So Hard to Hold On” and “Starting Over”. Then they featured a song from their latest album Alpenglow. “A Lifetime to Find” is actually a Wilco cover, but the lead singer of the band, Jeff Tweedy, suggested adding it to the collection while producing the album. Tweedy has always admired TBT and didn’t think twice when they asked for help when looking to expand and refine their sound.
Legend has it the impetus to form a bluegrass band in Duluth, MN came out of necessity when Simonett had all of his musical equipment stolen, leaving him with an acoustic guitar. From there only musicians with acoustic instruments need apply. And over twenty years TBT has stayed within the confines of the bluegrass tradition while exploring ways to merrily push the envelope.
Throughout the evening TBT moved between songs that highlight their fast-paced musical style like “Wait So Long” to more pensive and introspective songs like “Central Hillside Blues”. And being completely acoustic there was plenty of time between songs where they tuned and re-tuned their instruments, giving respite to a crowd electrified by the highflying solos of Young on the fiddle.
Then there was “Sounds Like a Movie”, written by Carroll, featuring his banjo solo buttressed by the rest of the band and a spectacular light show that could have easily topped any heavy metal act playing across the street at US Bank Stadium.
But the highlight of the evening was TBT inviting Alan Sparhawk and his electric guitar onto the stage to play “When I Go Deaf”. Sparkhawk of Duluth’s Low recently lost his wife and musical partner, Mimi Parker to cancer, and it was a moving experience to see him singing one of his songs, playing his electric guitar, surrounded by friends, a tribute that was brief but will be long remembered.
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Trampled by Turtles at Armory, Minneapolis (26 Nov 2022) |
| dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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