Charlie Parr- Rooming House [Smithsonian Folkways Recordings]

Charlie Parr’s Rooming House is a deeply moving conceptual folk opera from the veteran Minnesota blues troubadour, featuring dynamic accompaniment from drummer Dave King of The Bad Plus. Framed as a seven-song narrative suite centering on a shared Upper Midwestern boarding house, the album pairs Parr's signature raw, intricate fingerpicking with a stark, empathetic meditation on community, economic insecurity, and human dignity.