Paul Thorn

In my first blog post I mentioned that a fellow attendee said the Mayberry Meet Up was like a family reunion where everyone loved The Andy Griffith Show. When I typed that, I chuckled as I recalled a line from a song by Paul Thorn.

I know not everyone likes the same kind of music. I have always had broad tastes. I remember clearly in college how a passenger in my Camaro expressed confusion that I had cassette tapes in the console of Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ Men from Earth, The Holst orchestral suite The Planets, Dave Edmund’s Repeat When Necessary, and a Doc Watson album, saying these couldn’t all be mine. But if my tastes lean in one direction, it is toward what some call Americana.

I don’t know that Paul Thorn really fits comfortably in that box. His music is distinctive, sort of a blend of country, blues, and at times, rock. Sometimes he performs solo with an acoustic guitar and sometimes with his band. I first heard him solo as the opening act for John Prine. Paul is from Tupelo, Mississippi and was already working on his music while toiling away in a furniture factory and boxing professionally. In concert, he sometimes tells the story of when he fought Roberto Duran in a prize fight and lost when his cornerman had to throw in the towel due to a bad cut over Paul’s eye. Paul later wrote about it in a song called “I’d Rather Be a Hammer Than a Nail” with a first verse that discusses his factory line work and a last about fighting Duran. A lot of his songs are humorous but others may bring you to tears.

And that family reunion chuckle I had? That was from one of his songs which opens with the lines:

My family reunion is going on today
My relatives have all flown in from places far away
As we sit there eatin’ chicken, it hits me like a truck
I don’t like half the folks I love

Paul’s father is a Pentecostal preacher and many of Paul’s songs have a moral message underneath though usually not overtly religious. However, one of his most popular songs is an exception. The first verse of “Mission Temple Fireworks Stand” is:

I saw a black man with a Bible and a sparkler in his hand
He was holdin’ a tent revival and runnin’ a fireworks stand
He said, “The end of the world is comin’ so you’d better get on your knees
Today bottle rockets are two for one but salvation’s free!”

Attending a Paul Thorn concert usually has the feel of a tent revival as the show draws to a close. I have posted a few links below but his music is easy to find. I have to share one last story.

I saw Paul once in a small venue in Dayton, Ohio called Canal Street Tavern that sadly no longer books the type of great music they used to feature. I have seen a lot of great concerts there, and Paul by himself on stage with just an acoustic guitar was one of them. At the end of the concert, Paul had a gift that he gave to a fan near the stage. He said something along the line of, “Friend, I have something special for you. This is an individually packaged slice of Spam. I autographed the package for you. But here’s what you need to do. You take that home, you fry that up, you put that between two slices of Wonder bread with some Miracle Whip on it, and you can call and thank me!”

Give him a listen. You might love his stuff as much as I do.

Links are below.

“I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dhWD_r5-LY

“Lucky Man” is a good example of one of his songs that isn’t humorous with a great message.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tya9TkLb-pk

Not the best audio quality, but this bootleg includes him talking about his boxing career before performing “Hammer and Nail.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=camMM3afJ6U

“Mission Temple Fireworks Stand”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7g14QbXu28

(A second version of the same song on a cruise ship with a fun introduction is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPnD368f-0 )