As musical trends change and human-played instruments are replaced with digital samples and synthesizers, it's heartening to see singer-songwriters like Charlie Parr continuing the tradition of old-time blues/hillbilly music. When he sings, the Duluth, Minn.-born Parr conjures the haunting magic of the rural landscape in which he grew up in, in a television-less house with a father who was a fan of Lightnin' Hopkins, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly. With his long, scraggly beard, Parr looks like a man out of time as he plays his resonator guitar or banjo, singing with true, heartfelt emotion. Parr's music will hit you on a very deep level; you don't have to be a blues fan for his a cappella take on Blind Willie Johnson's "God Moves on the Water"—from 2011's quietly spectacular Keep Your Hand on the Plow—to give you goose bumps. (Kolbie Stonehocker, City Weekly)