Singer-songwriter Charlie Parr released the official music video for "Blues For Whitefish Lake, 1975," from his latest album Last of the Better Days Ahead.

The video was shot by Lei Shi and directed by Parr’s friend, Lance Lindahl, and it depicts an impressionist visit to a lake in northern Minnesota. The action takes place in the late autumn or perhaps early spring, not long after what's known as "ice out." This isn't the Minnesota one sees portrayed in tourism materials, but is rather one of desolation and cold. As the song plays, Parr's presence is intimated — and even briefly glimpsed from a distance in one scene, as Parr sits on a boat in the middle of the lake. The video also includes a cameo appearance by Gar Lindahl, the son of the video's makers Lance Lindahl and Lei Shi, in a scene set in a boathouse.

Parr says the song was inspired by a nostalgic reflection on his relationship with his father. "It was in the mid-seventies, maybe, when I went fishing with my Dad," Parr explains, "and since the fish weren’t biting, we went to the far end of the lake and up a long wooden staircase to a bar that I hadn’t been able to see from the water at all. The bartender knew my Dad and gave me a grape soda, and even though I’m sure my memory of it is all wrong like memories tend to be, I long for that little bit of time every now and then."

Video director Lance Lindahl says the fatherhood theme resonated with him. "I was very moved by the sacrifice [Charlie's] father made by breaking his back [work-wise], so Charlie didn’t have to," Lindahl says. "My father had done the same for me … This is something important for me to pass on."

Last of the Better Days Ahead was released in November 2021 on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Parr is currently doing a Sunday-night residency throughout the month of January at the Turf Club in St. Paul.

External Link

Charlie Parr - official site