Charlie Parr is set to perform at Kirk Avenue Music on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 pm.

Parr’s albums have received critical acclaim and have sold well into the thousands. He’s toured the UK, Ireland, and Scotland countless times, as well as many nooks and crannies of the United States. Still, many don’t know this virtuoso of authentic folk music.

He was a guest musician on A Prairie Home Companion (April 2004), starred in Travis Wilkerson’s independent film, “Who Killed Cock Robin?” (2005, and also contributed to the soundtrack), and has had his UK releases represented on the UK independent music charts. His music was also featured on a PBS special (2004) and his music can be heard on radio stations throughout the United States and Europe.

It must be a crazy world when “authentic” is a term used to separate an artist from the pack. Charlie Parr is a folk and country blues musician who is routinely labeled “authentic” and “the real deal” by fans and critics alike. Charlie shows up with a lived-in rasp of a voice, National resonator and 12-string acoustic guitars, a banjo and a batch of his own songs and well-traveled numbers by Mississippi John Hurt, Charley Patton, and other cohorts from another time.

He lays it on you, and you sense that the gamblers, the union workers, the criminals and the sinners that wander around his songs are peering right over your shoulder. Parr has sung about these folks at steady gigs in his hometown of Duluth, Minn., showcase performances such as “A Prairie Home Companion,” roadhouses in Texas and Montana, punk clubs in Ireland and pubs in London.

His self-taught mix of slide, finger-picking, and quasi-frailing technique, together with a voice that’s low on drama and high on impact, can also be heard on four CDs (including the acclaimed 2005 release Rooster). The stories he tells get into some dark spots; that place where regret and remorse part company, a bit of a modern take on timeless conditions.

Check him out and you’ll probably agree—Charlie Parr is coming from a very real place, and this has, in fact, always been a crazy world.

The evening will begin with local favorites Rootstone Jug Band and the Black Twig Pickers who will be joining Charlie on stage. Art by Sue Nees will be distributed to the audience so don’t miss your chance to hear some great music, support local musicians, and to receive free art from this talented local artist.

Tickets for Charlie Parr are $8 at the door. Another $2 donation will be collected at the door for the Music Lab at Jefferson Center. Please call 540.745.6643 for more information or visit www.dlpconcerts.com.