Sportsmens Tavern 326 Amherst St. Buffalo NY 14207 716-874-7734 Monday August 25 @ 7pm Paul Thorn $25 paulthorn Thorn Lo-Res 1 Paul Thornâs new album Too Blessed To Be Stressed stakes out new territory for the popular roots-rock songwriter and performer. âIn the past, Iâve told stories that were mostly inspired by my own life,â the former prizefighter and literal son of a preacher man offers. âThis time, Iâve written 10 songs that express more universal truths, and Iâve done it with a purpose: to make people feel good.â Which explains numbers like the acoustic-electric charmer âRob You of Your Joy,â where Thornâs warm peaches-and-molasses singing dispenses advice on avoiding the pitfalls of life. The title track borrows its tag from a familiar saying among the members of the African-American Baptist churches Thorn frequented in his childhood. âIâd ask, âHow you doinâ, sister?â And what Iâd often hear back was, âIâm too blessed to be stressed.ââ In the hands of Thorn and his faithful band, whoâve been together 20 years, the tune applies its own funky balm, interlacing a percolating drum and keyboard rhythm with the slinky guitar lines beneath his playful banter. Thornâs trademark humor is abundant throughout the album, which will be released August 19, 2014 on Perpetual Obscurity/Thirty Tigers. âBackslide on Fridayâ is a warm-spirited poke at personal foibles. âI promised myself not to write about me, but I did on âBackslide,ââ Thorn relates. The chipper pop tune is a confession about procrastination, sweetened by Bill Hindsâ slide guitar and Thornâs gently arching melody. âBut,â Thorn protests, âI know Iâm not the only one who says heâs gonna diet and just eat Blue Bell vanilla ice cream on Sundays, and then ends up eating it every day!â âMediocrity Is Kingâ takes a wider swipe, at our cultureâs hyper-drive addiction to celebrity artifice and rampant consumerism. But like âEverything Is Gonna Be All Right,â a rocking celebration of the simple joys of life, itâs done with Thornâs unflagging belief in the inherent goodness of the human heart. âI donât think I could have written anthemic songs like this if I hadnât made my last album,â Thorn says of 2012âs What the Hell Is Goinâ On? Like 2010âs autobiographical Pimps & Preachers, it was among its yearâs most played CDs on Americana radio and contributed to Thornâs rapidly growing fan base. And Thorn followed that airplay success with his current AAA-radio hit version of âDoctor My Eyesâ from April 2014âs Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne. The latter also features Grammy winners Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, the Indigo Girls, Lucinda Williams, Kebâ Moâ, Ben Harper and Don Henley. What the Hell Is Goinâ On? was also Thornâs first set of songs written by other artists, borrowed from the catalogs of Allen Toussaint, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Rick Danko, among others. âI lived with those songs and studied them before I recorded that album, and that changed me and made me grow as a songwriter,â Thorn relates. âLindsey Buckinghamâs âDonât Let Me Down Againâ especially got me thinking. It was a rock anthem with a sing-along hook, and I fell in love with it and the idea of big vocal hooks. So every song on Too Blessed To Be Stressed has a big vocal hook in it. And it works! Weâve been playing these songs in concert, and by the time the chorus comes along for the second time people are singing along. Iâve never seen that happen with my unreleased songs before, and I love it.â It helps that those big vocal hooks on Too Blessed To Be Stressed are being reinforced by the sound of Thornâs flexible and dynamic band, as they have been doing for years in concert. During their two decades in the club, theater and festival trenches, the four-piece and their frontman have garnered a reputation for shows that ricochet from humor to poignancy to knock-out rock ânâ roll. Guitarist Bill Hinds is the perfect, edgy foil for Thornâs warm, laconic salt oâ the earth delivery â a veritable living library of glowing tones, sultry slide and sonic invention. Keyboardist Michael âDr. Loveâ Graham displays a gift for melody that reinforces Thornâs hooks while creating his own impact, and helps expand the groupâs rhythmic force. Meanwhile drummer Jeffrey Perkins and bassist Ralph Friedrichsen are a force, propelling every tune with just the right amount of up-tempo power or deep-in-the-groove restraint. âThese guys really bring my songs to life,â says Thorn. âA lot of albums sound like theyâre made by a singer with bored studio musicians. My albums sound theyâre played by a real blood-and-guts band because thatâs what we are. And when we get up on stage, people hear and see that.â Thornâs earlier catalog is cherished by his many fans thanks to his down-home perspective, vivid-yet-plainspoken language and colorful characters. It helps that Thorn is a colorful and distinctly Southern personality himself. He was raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the land of cotton and catfish. And churches. âMy father was a preacher, so I went with him to churches that white people attended and churches that black people attended,â Thorn says. âThe white people sang gospel like it was country music, and the black people sang it like it was rhythm and blues. But both black and white people attended my fatherâs church, and thatâs how I learned to sing mixing those styles.â His performances were generally limited to the pews until sixth grade. âIâm dyslexic, and got held back in sixth grade,â Thorn relates. âI didnât have to face the embarrassment, because my family moved and I ended up in a new school. There was a talent show, and I sang âThree Times a Ladyâ by Lionel Ritchie with my acoustic guitar, and suddenly I went from being a social outcast to the most desired boy on the playground. The feeling I got from that adulation stuck with me and propelled me to where I am today.â At age 17, Thorn met songwriter Billy Maddox, who became his friend and mentor. It would take several detours â working in a furniture factory, boxing, jumping out of airplanes â until Thorn committed to the singer-songwriterâs life. But through it all he and Maddox remained friends, and Maddox became Thornâs songwriting partner and co-producer. Nonetheless, Thorn possessed the ability to charm audiences right from the start. Not only with his music, but with the stories he tells from the stage. âShowmanship is a dying art that I learned from watching Dean Martin on TV when I was a kid,â Thorn explains. âHe could tell little jokes and then deliver a serious song, then make you laugh again. And he would look into the camera like he was looking right at you through the TV. Thatâs what I want to do â make people feel like Iâm talking directly to them.â Thatâs really Thornâs mission for Too Blessed To Be Stressed, which can be heard as a running conversation about life between Thorn and listeners â a conversation leavened with gentles insights, small inspirations and plenty of cheer. âI wrote these songs hoping they might put people in a positive mindset and encourage them to count their own blessings, like I count mine,â Thorn observes. âThereâs no higher goal I could set for myself than to help other people find some happiness and gratitude in their lives.â
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:20:16 +0000
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