SONGWRITER/guitarist Charlie Parr has joined the roster of Red House Records for his latest studio album, Stumpjumper (out August 5), following it up on August 8 with a gig at The Exchange, Bristol.

Long a part of the vibrant Duluth, Minnesota, music scene (Low, Trampled by Turtles), Charlie travelled to North Carolina to record this album with fellow musician Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger). As well as being the first album Charlie has recorded outside of his native Minnesota, it’s also the first to feature a full band.

Percussive and raw, the 11 songs on Stumpjumper, 10 originals and his version of the venerable murder ballad, “Delia,” could be lost field recordings from another era. His blistering picking – he switches between acoustic guitar, dobro and banjo – and keening, cut-through-the-crowd vocals resonate with a conviction that runs deep and true. It's the music of a self-taught guitarist and banjo player who grew up listening to his dad's recordings of America's musical founding fathers, including Charley Patton and Lightnin' Hopkins, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. His heartfelt and plaintive original folk blues and traditional spirituals don't strive for authenticity, they are authentic.

Parr’s inspiration is drawn from the alternately fertile and frozen soil of Minnesota; his songs exude a Midwestern sensibility and humility.

Most of his recordings to date have eschewed typical studio settings; he’s recorded in warehouses, garages, basements and storefronts, usually on vintage equipment, which gives his work the historic feel of field recordings. It's not because he wants to sound like he was discovered 75 years ago by Alan Lomax, it’s because most modern recording studios make the reticent and self-effacing Parr feel uncomfortable. After a health scare a few years back, he lives very simply, no alcohol and a vegan diet, often cooking up his rice and beans on his engine manifold on the lonely, cross-country drives. He doesn’t go in much for fashion and frills and lives simply on the road, usually sleeping in his car.

The songs are inspired by family members, the Bible, overheard conversations and places in his life. A native Minnesotan, he draws sustenance from the surprisingly large, thriving and mutually supportive music scene of Duluth: Parr's 2011 album of traditional songs, Keep Your Hands on the Plow, features locals including Charlie's wife, Emily Parr, old-timey banjo/fiddle band Four Mile Portage and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low.

The title track finds Charlie tapping into his childhood. “Songs aren't normally very autobiographical for me, they're more like stories, but this one is different,” he says. “I can see a 1966 International Harvester pickup truck with no hood and four snow tires, breaking field road land-speed records on my way to my job in a filling station.”

Quiet and thoughtful, Parr always includes a few traditional songs of the hard life and the hereafter in his live sets. Such music isn't necessarily rooted in the Methodist church in which he grew up. "It was more like, let's get the service over quick so we can get downstairs and drink coffee and have pie!"

But faith, though undefined, underlines all of Charlie's music, both in the listening, the covering, the writing and performing. For more information go to charlieparr.com