Charlie Parr

How do you say something new about a guy who’s already well-known and loved, a guy who’s coming home?

How do you write something not already written about Charlie Parr?

It’s a good problem to have. Charlie is returning to the Paramount next month — an authentic roots musician returning to (wait for it) his roots. Parr plays a veritable quiver of guitars — Resophonic, acoustic 12-string, a lap guitar, etcetera — and the history in these instruments cuts his music with a veracity that is rare not just in “music these days,” but in music period. Twelve bars in you’re recognizing a patina of truth that demands your full attention.

The man himself, though — humble as he is — pulls at something deeper. The first twelve bars are about the guitar, followed by the beat (which echoes out of Parr’s box drum and seems so certain that the drum must be playing itself), and when he lets his voice out, that’s when you really start wanting it. If that’s not evidence of truth in music, I don’t know what is.

Catch Charlie’s return to the Paramount Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and $5 for students. Grab them up at austinareaarts.org or the ArtWorks Center.