Mule

“Is that… that’s Charlie Parr! Will you sign my guitar?”

Charlie and I are eating food truck egg rolls on a bench out front of Ore Dock Brewing at the top of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The U. P. Is the lower 48’s alaska. Moose, elk, wolves. The copper in your change and the ore melted into the steel of your car is pulled from this ground. It’s deposited into boats from a megalithic structure called the Ore Dock that rises above Lake Superior down the street. Shipwrecks lay under 1,300’ of water. This place is glossy folk tales of Paul Bunyan meets the birthed from the dirt crustiness of Harrison’s Brown Dog.

In a phrase that’s Charlie Parr. He’s most commonly revered as an “American treasure”. And also,“ a bit of an unmade bed” as a UK magazine referred to him. A folk legend cooks his road meals in the engine block of his van. At the merch table next to his brilliant new record “Little Sun” he had a milk crate of old clothes he was selling - and he sold them all. People love Charlie Parr. People know they are watching history when he plays. But he’s so damn… human. No rarified air here - he’s just trying to make laundry day easier like the rest of us.

“Sure.. I mean if you want me to,” Charlie responded but the man was off. His wife stayed and told us he was learning to play guitar for her. She grew up with her family playing music together instead of watching TV and her dad would play her Charlie Parr. The math would make Charlie about 98 years old but the point was made.

This man was learning guitar with Charlie’s songs because it would bring his wife happiness. I pictured her smiling supportively thinking about those times with her family as her husband practiced parts of 1922 Blues. I pictured her feeling loved by this badass taking on this challenge to win her over. The way she might pay it forward now to someone who needs love or grace.

I’m eating egg rolls on a bench witnessing a man change the world. How we change the world. When someone is who they are as hard as they can and then gives something of that to the people they encounter in their daily life this is “being the change”.

That’s Charlie F****** Parr.