Friends of Bob live music co-op

November 2009 Newsletter

 

 “Paul Thorn creates a rugged blend of Americana, embracing country, gospel, and blues, and often rocking with a snarly edge reminiscent of somebody like Steve Earle. Like John Prine, Thorn is a natural raconteur, feels the gritty pulse of real life, and has a quirky sense of humor, although his has a Southern gothic streak that combines nicely with his Skynyrd-in-Memphis strain of funky soul.” City Pages (Minneapolis)

 

·   Some of us came to Paul Thorn because he’s put out a string of terrific albums full of top-drawer songwriting and music.  

·   Some of us know him from his appearances on the Bob & Tom Show, where it’s his wit that is his calling card.

·   Any of us fortunate enough to have seen him live know that he travels with a superb band that will provide a powerful and highly entertaining evening.

 

Paul Thorn is a no-brainer for a great

Friends of Bob show—we hope you can be there.

Bonnie Raitt:

Paul is one of my favorite artists. Talk about somebody with a powerful live performance. He's funny, he's funky, he's sexy, he's witty, and he's a great songwriter. He's the perfect double bill for me. I love the energy.

 

Mark Knopfler:

Paul Thorn is a rare and addictive mixture of soul, wit, humor, and musicality.

 

Kris Kristofferson:

Paul Thorn may be the best kept secret in the music business.  He and writing partner Billy Maddox turn out songs like a Mississippi Leiber & Stoller that put me in mind of Harry Crews creations- absolutely Southern, absolutely original, full of heart and humor and surprises and street-wise details of trailer parks and turnip greens and love and lust that have the unmistakable ring of truth.  And he sings them with the soul and pure joy of a true artist. There are classics:  the breathtaking "Even Heroes Die,"  the sad, stunning, "Where Was I."  (when you stop loving me) among many others.  "Angel Too Soon," is either the saddest pretty song or the prettiest sad song I ever heard.  Any artist who can make you laugh and cry like that (who once went 7 rounds with Roberto Duran - one of the toughest pieces of meat on this planet) is clearly someone who's going to go the distance.  I am forever grateful to Donny Fritts for turning me on to him.

Paul Thorn: Skydiver, Boxer, Rootsy Rocker

 by Meredith Ochs NPR—“All Things Considered”

June 10, 2008 - Paul Thorn has jumped out of an airplane 169 times just for fun, and he was a professional boxer who endured his fair share of pummeling, including a televised bout against middleweight champ Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran. As Thorn discovered, skydiving and boxing are excellent ways to prepare for a career in music.

The singer-songwriter spent the last decade being told by music-industry folks that he'd be the "next big thing." He's still not quite there, but for the first time in his career, Thorn has cracked the Billboard charts. His latest album, A Long Way from Tupelo, is available on his own Perpetual Obscurity Records.

Tupelo bears the gospel stamp of the music Thorn grew up around as the son of a Pentecostal preacher. His devout upbringing and the conflict it created in him reverberates throughout the album.

Some are uncomfortable with the intersection of sex and religion, but Thorn puts both on the table side by side as if to say, "Deal with it." There doesn't seem to be a lot of guilt in Thorn's mix of the sacred and the profane, but his self-awareness is evident in songs such as "Starvin' for Your Kisses," a lusty mandate set to a chorus of hallelujahs.

Part narrative, part parable, and part plainspoken desire, Thorn's songs are best when heralding the positive energy that keeps him going. You may think about visiting that senior citizen down the block from you who seems lonely, but Thorn put her in "What Have You Done to Lift Somebody Up" in the hope that you'll do more than think. Beyond simply entertaining his audience, Thorn just may inspire it to do something good. And there aren't a lot of artists who can make that claim.

 

“There’s one part of Paul Thorn’s bio that will always grab the attention of writers and fans: professional boxer. This singer-songwriter from Tupelo, Miss., is years away from his days taking punches, but his smoky voice and blues- and gospel-flavored songs are part and parcel of the blue-collar world of boxing. But Thorn also has a sharp ear for pop music and, as a result, his tunes end up being more than simple genre exercises. “There’s Something Out There” and “That’s All I Know Right Now” are as good and greasy as swamp rock gets, and with Thorn’s lyrics, they become tales told by somebody who’s seen a few things—like, say, a boxer who had the sense to get out while the getting was good. “ Nashville Scene

 

FoB Organizational Meeting: We will have a regular organizational meeting on Tuesday, December 1st at 7:30 at the Lafayette Brewing Company. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. We meet at the back of the ground floor—by the brew kettles.

 

 

          Please Do the Dues!!! Membership dues are by the calendar year—2009 dues are due! Your donations are crucial!!! Dues pay for this newsletter and provide a safety net for when admission charges don’t cover expenses. Please help us keep the music coming. Become a Friend of Bob! Dues are $10 per person. If you can make a donation above the $10 we would greatly appreciate it, and since we are a 501[c][3] not-for-profit organization, donations above the dues are tax-deductible and really assist us HUGELY in what we're trying to do. If you have an asterisk by your name on the label of this newsletter, you have already paid your 2009 dues. The following have sent in their dues since our last newsletter:

Stacy Baitinger            

Chris Brown              

Joyce Burnette               

Jeff & Carol Vice

 

 

“The onetime professional boxer turned singer-songwriter has an innate gift for storytelling. It's an Americana delight, mixing blues, rock, and soul with Thorn's characteristic deadpan humor.” npr.org

 

Paul Thorn  Are You With Me? review by Jim Musser (No Depression magazine)

The land of southern soul is a strange, murky place. It’s steamy and dark, although often dimly lit. Window shades are permanently pulled (the better for telltale silhouettes), the bedding is always rumpled, one end of a phone call is always in a public booth, and only the odd men out use front doors. Tupelo, Mississippi, artist Paul Thorn and his writing partner Billy Maddox are bona fide masters of the lingo, but while Thorn’s previous three studio discs found the high-octane belter collating a variety of roots-rock and gospel treats amid the soul nuggets, the new Are You With Me? shuttles strictly on a red-eye from Muscle Shoals to Memphis. Equipped with a powerful, agile rasp that bites somewhere between Joe Cocker and Paul Carrack, Thorn can play rough, yet the bulk of these exemplary, in-the-tradition originals strut over pristine, midtempo backdrops embroidered by soaring female vocals, sassy horns, crisp, stinging guitars, and swirling keyboards — all couched on a big, fat bottom. Radio long ago barricaded its gates against this kinda stuff, but true soulmen like Paul Thorn have always slipped in the back way anyhow. Let him in.

Friends of Bob live music co-op: Sunday, December 6; 7:00 p.m. (doors 6:00)

From Tupelo, Mississippi

Paul Thorn Band

Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette

$12 advance/$15 (day of show)

at Lafayette Brewing Company, Von's Records,  JL Records, and McGuire Music Advance tickets by mail are $13. Send your check to: Friends of Bob, PO Box 59, Battle Ground, IN 47920

Please provide your name, address, phone #, and e-mail address.

www.paulthorn.com    www.myspace.com/paulthorn    www.friends-of-bob.org

 

Paste magazine: PAUL THORN - ARE YOU WITH ME? With the line “A full tank of gas and an R&B station” (from the opening track, “Lover’s Vacation”), Paul Thorn sets the tone for his fourth full-length studio disc. A little Boz Scaggs  here, some of Paul Carrack’s Ace/Squeeze there, Thorn settles into a groovy soul-pop R&B-fueled formula. Once the vibe takes you, you’ll feel that sly sadness that digs a crisp tempo and a sultry bass hop. It’s got that bluesy grin that snaps to life when the horns kick in, the familiar ache at the end of love’s cul de sac that only a funky wah-wah or slide guitar can soothe. Thorn bends these time-honored chops and a strong, gospel-tinged female chorus to his take on all the expected plot arcs within love, betrayal, infidelity and longing. A reliable storyteller, Thorn wants to know Are You With Me? Hey, it’s a hot summer and this blue-eyed, love-sick soul music, aching with longing, is a cool, smooth ride. So why not?

 

Indiana Fiddlers’ present

Frank Vignola’s Hot Club: Celebrating 100 Years of Django Reinhardt

Sunday, November 22, 7:00 p.m. Wells Cultural Center, North Street, Lafayette

$15 advance/$20 day of—available at Wells Center

 

Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society 12.06.09

Holiday Brass: A Stan Kenton Christmas

Duncan Hall, 3:00 p.m.

 

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