At the Huey Lewis and the News concert in Boston and again last night in New Hampshire, Paul Thorn was once again the opening act. I'd first seen him last summer opening for HLN. And he was fantastic. When I go to a HLN show I really want to see HLN, and RIGHT NOW. Not some other guy... But Paul Thorn's performances are absolutely worth seeing, and I was happy to catch some again this year.
A singer/songwriter, Paul speaks and sings with a thick, rhythmic Mississippi accent. His songs tell wryly humorous and insightful tales gleaned from his rather interesting life (for instance, he was once a boxer who fought Roberto Duran, which resulted in a song entitled, "I'd Rather be a Hammer, than a Nail."). Other favorites I've heard include "Joanie, the Jehovah's Witness Stripper," and the bittersweet, so-beautifully-melodic-I-can't-help-but-sing-this-in-the-shower song, "If I Can Get Over Her, I Can Get Over You," where he compares the soul-crushing feeling he felt at 10 years old when he saw his puppy-love sweetheart being pushed on the swingset by another boy, with how he's felt when a more contemporary relationship ended with the same depth of heartbreak.
As he sings his set, he shmoozes with the audience with his perfectly-paced southern drawl, charming even the most begrudging audience and bringing the crowd into his stories. (A woman sitting near me last night, in the middle of his set as she laughed and clapped, exclaimed, "I'd pay to see him!" High praise indeed, particularly from someone who hadn't even heard of him before and had certainly not come to see him.) It's interesting, because when I've seen him perform on the north side of the Mason-Dixon line, the audience laughs at the mental images of these characters his songs conjure up in their heads from this foreign world he describes. Whereas when I saw him perform in Virginia, I saw most of the audience nodding their heads as if to say, "Yep, I have relatives like that."
I've had a chance to meet Paul and talk with him a bit at some of these shows. At one, he paid me the wonderful and hopefully-deserved compliment that I was "an interesting person." I'm glad to return the favor and lob the certainly-deserved praise back his way, with my sincere recommendation that people should check out his work.
Comments (2)
That is so, so, so freaky. I was just reading your post on the Wil Wheaton reading. As it got to the bit about how good he is about talking to people and personalising the experience I was reminded about a time I went to see a performer called Jools Holland in the UK. I saw of went into Holcyonic reminicenc e mode for a short while.
His support act was cool and in the intermission I bought a CD. As I was in a playful mood at the time I gave what I thought would be an awkward name for the guy to write (it really did seem funnier/cheekier at the time) The guy was polite, funny and we chatted for a bit, I felt like a heel when I walked away
Aaaanyway, at the end of your post I clicked on the link that bought me to this post. The guy I saw support Jools Holland was Paul Thorn!! That really was a spooky moment, pausing to think about that time, and then clicking straight to this post.
Just thought I'd share.
Posted by MrJuggles | July 6, 2006 1:50 AM
Posted on July 6, 2006 01:50
Ooo... that is weird! But good that you got to see Paul Thorn ;-) (This was a couple of years ago, right? I know he's been to the UK but I don't think recently?)
FWIW, Paul has got good people skills too, although his following is a bit different than Wil's....
Posted by Cathy | July 6, 2006 4:39 AM
Posted on July 6, 2006 04:39