Paul Thorn - Never Too Late To Call

Size: 87.2 MB
Time: 37:07
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2021
Styles: Blues, Rock, Americana
Art: Front

01. Two Tears Of Joy (3:00)
02. It's Never Too Late To Call (3:01)
03. Sapalo (3:07)
04. Breaking Up For Good Again (3:33)
05. What I Could Do (3:52)
06. Here We Go (2:47)
07. Apple Pie Moonshine (3:24)
08. Sapphire Dream (3:57)
09. You Mess Around & Get A Buzz (3:07)
10. Goodbye Is The Last Word (3:40)
11. Holy Hottie Toddy (3:35)

Some years ago I happened to see Paul Thorn performing on an outdoor stage at a street festival in the heart of a small Mississippi town. Suddenly, in mid song, Thorn stopped playing and looked down at the upturned, sugar-splattered face of a fan on the front row. “I sure would like me a funnel cake,” Thorn announced. The crowd exploded with laughter. By the end of the next song, someone in the audience had responded, and soon Thorn was happily munching on the doughy confection. And that, dear people, is one more shining example of how Paul Thorn is able to breathe in the air around him, everyday and commonplace, and exhale something original and often side-splitting funny. It’s a kind of genius, and it’s there plain to see, in his music, his art and through his performances, which not only showcase his chops as a singer-songwriter, but as a pitch-perfect improv comic. His audiences love it. And they come back for more because no two Paul Thorn performances are alike. For further confirmation of this, check out Thorn’s YouTube videos, though I warn you. You will find yourself a long time in this rabbit hole. We live in a world where the terms “artist” and “genius” have been rendered meaningless through overuse. To use either in describing Thorn, though, is not overreach. Pick up any of his dozen or so CDs. The evidence is plain to see. Just listen.

Never Too Late To Call MP3
Never Too Late To Call FLAC

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Paul Thorn - Don't Let The Devil Ride

Size: 122,7 MB
Time: 52:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Electric Blues, Gospel
Art: Front

01. Come On Let's Go (3:29)
02. The Half Has Never Been Told (2:48)
03. You Got To Move (3:06)
04. Keep Holdin' On (3:06)
05. He's A Battle Axe (4:37)
06. Something On My Mind (4:44)
07. Soon I Will Be Done (2:47)
08. One More River (4:41)
09. He'll Make A Way (3:06)
10. Don't Let The Devil Ride (4:56)
11. What Should I Do (5:16)
12. Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dyin' Bed (2:53)
13. Love Train (6:03)
14. The Get Back (0:46)

After a dozen roots-rock records, Paul Thorn reclaims his past by celebrating the first music he ever experienced. Don’t Let The Devil Ride features contributions from the Blind Boys of Alabama, The McCrary Sisters, the Preservation Hall Jazz Horns, and Bonnie Bishop.

Don't Let The Devil Ride

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Paul Thorn - Hammer & Nail Live

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:41
Size: 116.0 MB
Styles: Roots, Contemporary blues
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[4:26] 1. A Heart With 4 Wheel Drive
[3:31] 2. 800 Lb. Jesus
[5:43] 3. I Bet He Knows
[4:03] 4. Double Wide Paradise
[5:33] 5. Sure Sign
[6:22] 6. Every Little Bit Hurts
[3:50] 7. A Heart Like Mine
[4:52] 8. Resurrection Day
[4:27] 9. Hammer & Nail
[3:24] 10. Joanie The Jehovah Witness Stripper
[4:23] 11. Temporarily Forever Mine

Recorded on Sixth Man's Cayamo Cruise in February of 2017, this album commemorates the 20th anniversary of Paul's first release, Hammer & Nail. This live update includes Temporarily Forever Mine, a richly harmonized current crowd favorite.

Hammer & Nail Live

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Paul Thorn - The Best Of Paul Thorn (2-Disc Set)

Paul Thorn, from Tupelo, Mississippi, grew up in the shadow of Elvis. But the biggest influences on his life were his Pentecostal preacher daddy, who taught him how to respect and serve people, and his pimp uncle who schooled him on women and how to throw a punch. Both gave him the stories and confidence to build a music career his own way, with his own record label.

Thorn grew up singing in the church and later fought his way to a respected national ranking as a middleweight boxer. He worked in a chair factory during the day, boxed on weekends, and wrote songs and played in a pizzeria at night. He was discovered by Miles Copeland (Sting’s manager) and his first concert was opening for Sting in front of 14,000 people in Nashville. Attending concerts was banned by his religion, but singing at the altar since he was three years old prepared him for singing on the stage. Thorn writes about what he knows: sin, salvation and survival. His songs speak of strippers, dealers, preachers, backsliders and cheaters. They are dark stories with bright melodies and catchy choruses about weeds in his roses, being the hammer instead of the nail, and it’s a great day to whoop somebody’s ass. He is a Southern storyteller whose life has given him plenty of tales to tell.

“You are a victim of your own environment,” says Thorn. “When a dung beetle is a baby, its mama and dad say, ‘Look, you are going to have to eat shit your whole life and it will be ok,’ and he starts to eat shit and he is happy with it. He sees everyone else is eating shit, so why not. I started out as a dung beetle.”

Thorn is tall and lean and looks like he could still go a few rounds in the ring. His blue eyes are full of mischief and see everything. They light up as he tells of getting his hand slapped by his wife for wanting sex too early in the morning, being the alpha lion on stage, or the jokes he gets from the writing on bathroom walls. His voice is a cocky, scratchy, unpolished baritone filled with optimism, playfulness, shades of backwoods Mississippi and sometimes the other Elvis, Elvis Costello. It is also filled with kindness when he talks with his fans and gives them his full attention.

Album: The Best Of Paul Thorn (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:50
Size: 114.1 MB
Styles: Roots, Electric blues
Year: 2016

[4:23] 1. I Don't Like Half The Folks I Love
[3:32] 2. Mission Temple Fireworks Stand
[4:59] 3. Snake Farm
[4:11] 4. Pimps & Preachers
[4:25] 5. Long Way From Tupelo
[3:23] 6. Burn Down The Trailer Park
[4:40] 7. Bull Mountain Bridge
[4:04] 8. What The Hell Is Goin' On
[3:14] 9. What Have You Done To Lift Somebody Up
[4:45] 10. Old Stray Dogs & Jesus
[3:16] 11. I Have A Good Day Every Now And Then
[4:54] 12. Rose City

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The Best Of Paul Thorn (Disc 1) zippy

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Album: The Best Of Paul Thorn (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:43
Size: 93.2 MB
Styles: Roots, Acoustic blues
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[0:25] 1. Intro (Live Acoustic)
[4:24] 2. A Lot Of Good Reasons (Live Acoustic)
[3:37] 3. I Backslide On Friday (Live Acoustic)
[4:39] 4. I Hope I'm Doin' This Right (Live Acoustic)
[4:15] 5. Hammer & Nail (Live Acoustic)
[4:46] 6. That's Life (Live Acoustic)
[3:07] 7. Turnip Greens (Live Acoustic)
[5:35] 8. Don't Let Nobody Rob You Of Your Joy (Live Acoustic)
[4:03] 9. She Won't Cheat On Us (Live Acoustic)
[5:48] 10. Everything's Gonna Be Alright (Live Acoustic)

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Paul Thorn - 2 albums: What The Hell Is Going On? / Pimps And Preachers

Album: What The Hell Is Going On?
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:27
Size: 108.6 MB
Styles: Roots, Electric blues
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[3:53] 1. Don't Let Me Down Again
[3:17] 2. Snake Farm
[4:55] 3. Shelter Me Lord
[4:07] 4. Shed A Little Light
[3:33] 5. What The Hell Is Goin' On
[2:56] 6. Small Town Talk
[3:59] 7. Walk In My Shadow
[3:08] 8. Wrong Number
[4:24] 9. Bull Mountain Bridge
[4:19] 10. Junkin'
[4:38] 11. She's Got A Crush On Me
[4:12] 12. Take My Love With You

What The Hell is Goin On? Is exactly the question that many fans of songwriter and Billboard-charting recording artist Paul Thorn will be asking when they hear he s releasing an album made up entirely of cover songs. Thorn has assembled a collection of mostly unheralded songs that felt to him like he could have written them. The result is a collection of diverse tunes-penned by a range of writers from Buddy Miller and Allen Toussaint to Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks. The album features Paul backed by his longtime touring band and includes contributions from Delbert McClinton and Elvin Bishop plus special guests the McCrary sisters. It builds on the breakout success of his last release, Pimps and Preachers, which garnered him his first placement on the Billboard Top 100 album chart.

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Album: Pimps And Preachers
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:09
Size: 114.8 MB
Styles: Roots, Electric blues
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[2:57] 1. You're Not The Only One
[4:04] 2. Pimps & Preachers
[3:36] 3. Tequila Is Good For The Heart
[4:08] 4. Love Scar
[3:01] 5. Weeds In My Roses
[3:55] 6. Better Days Ahead
[3:52] 7. Ray Ann's Shoes
[3:27] 8. You Might Be Wrong
[4:52] 9. Buckskin Jones
[3:25] 10. I Hope I'm Doin' This Right
[4:20] 11. I Don't Like Half The Folks I Love
[3:41] 12. Nona Lisa
[4:45] 13. That's Life

Among those who value originality, inspiration, eccentricity, and character as well as talent that hovers somewhere on the outskirts of genius, the story of Paul Thorn is already familiar. Now, Thorn reveals another layer of his fascinating history on the album Pimps and Preachers, addressing that subject on the title cut and in the intriguing family portrait he painted for the cover, which highlights his daddy, the preacher and his uncle the pimp.

The cover depicts a teeming street scene, at the unlikely intersection of Redemption Lane and Turn Out Blvd. two figures dominate: a pimp and a preacher, both dressed to the nines beneath broad-brimmed hats, surrounded by streetwalkers, holy rollers and onlookers all on their paths to salvation or perdition. Nearly lost in this tumult is a small boy, banging a tambourine branded with the name of Jesus but backed up against a hooker holding a fistful of greenbacks.

That little boy represents me, says Thorn. I m in the church group but my eyes are looking back to the streets where all the sin is going on. It shows me being intrigued by the broad world. That s why I made this my album cover: It describes who I am.

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Various - Live! At The Krush

Album: Live! At The Krush
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:53
Size: 173.7 MB
Styles: Roots, Acoustic blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:52] 1. James McMurtry - See The Elephant
[4:18] 2. Audrey Auld Mezera - Last Seen In Gainesville
[4:46] 3. Chuck Prophet - Would You Love Me
[4:06] 4. New Riders Of The Purple Sage - Louisiana Lady
[3:29] 5. Nick Gravenites, John Allair & Roy Rogers - Since The Gas Station Left Town
[9:51] 6. Bill Kirchen - Hot Rod Lincoln
[3:49] 7. Carrie Rodriguez - 7 Angels On A Bicycle
[4:48] 8. Eric Lindell - Give It Time
[5:12] 9. David Grisman & The Gypsy Kidz - Limehouse Blues
[4:39] 10. Volker Strifler - In Your Arms
[4:25] 11. Alejandro Escovedo - Evita's Lullaby
[2:32] 12. Johnny Rawls - You Got To Change
[2:56] 13. Paul Thorn - Viagra
[3:47] 14. Chris Smither - Seems So Real
[5:48] 15. The Ruminators - Ghost Town
[3:49] 16. Seth Walker - Miss Ann
[3:39] 17. Jesse Denatale - Dreamer's Holiday

The Krush 95.9 FM has been serving Sonoma County (Nor Cal) since 1993 with an eclectic array of Roots Music: The best of Blues, Americana, Rock, Folk, Singer-Songwriters, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Rockabilly, Jazz, Reggae and World. Throughout these years, we have been ever-so-fortunate to have a slew of awesome musicians stop by and perform LIVE! in our broadcast studio.

LIVE! at the Krush, The CD is 17 of the finest of those performances. Many are stripped down, acoustic versions of the original recordings. It’s an intimate, relaxed sounding collection, good from start to finish!

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Paul Thorn - 2 albums: Too Blessed To Be Stressed / Ain't Love Strange

Album: Too Blessed To Be Stressed
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:48
Size: 98.0 MB
Styles: Roots
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[4:42] 1. Everything's Gonna Be Alright
[3:51] 2. Too Blessed To Be Stressed
[4:26] 3. Everybody Needs Somebody
[3:31] 4. I Backslide On Friday
[3:43] 5. This Is A Real Goodbye
[3:33] 6. Mediocrity Is King
[4:21] 7. Don't Let Nobody Rob You Of Your Joy
[3:27] 8. Get You A Healin'
[4:41] 9. Old Stray Dogs & Jesus
[2:59] 10. What Kind Of Roof Do You Live Under
[3:29] 11. No Place I'd Rather Be

Paul Thorn's new album stakes out fresh territory. "In the past, I've told stories that were mostly inspired by my own life. This time, I've written songs that express more universal truths, and I've done it with a purpose: to make people feel good."

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Album: Ain't Love Strange
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:35
Size: 113.5 MB
Styles: Roots
Year: 2001
Art: Front

[3:48] 1. Aint Love Strange
[3:34] 2. Blue Stew
[3:11] 3. I Have A Good Day
[3:21] 4. Burn Down The Trailer Park
[4:22] 5. What Do You Take Me For
[3:26] 6. Fabio & Liberace
[3:53] 7. Mood Ring
[3:05] 8. Black Rainbow
[4:05] 9. Where Was I
[3:42] 10. A Lot Of Good Reasons
[3:01] 11. Help Me Out, Hook Me Up
[2:56] 12. Accept My Love
[3:55] 13. Aint Gonna Beg
[3:10] 14. Thats All I Know Right Now

"From the story of a faux Liberace picking up a leopard-skin thong-wearing Fabio lookalike hitchhiker to the amazed realization of a lover that's been taken to the cleaners, Thorn proves again and again his knack with a story and a lyric." — John Everson

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Paul Thorn Band - So Far So Good: The Best Of The Paul Thorn Band

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 70:47
Size: 162.0 MB
Styles: Roots rock, Electric blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:04] 1. Heart With 4 Wheel Drive
[3:48] 2. Love's Vacation
[3:11] 3. Burn Down The Trailer Park
[5:01] 4. Every Little Bit Hurts
[3:13] 5. That's All I Know Right Now
[5:15] 6. Mood Ring
[4:53] 7. That's A Lie
[4:11] 8. A Lot Of Good Reasons
[5:17] 9. I Have A Good Day
[3:18] 10. I'd Rather Be A Hammer Than A Nail
[4:13] 11. Rise Up
[4:02] 12. High
[5:39] 13. Ain't Love Strange
[4:31] 14. Mission Temple Fireworks Stand
[3:20] 15. Something Out There
[6:41] 16. Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Well established by his four studio albums, Paul Thorn is a fine guitarist and songwriter with an original singing voice and a fine sense of irony -- something that's missing from contemporary blues and rock records. This CD is a live document of Thorn working his sweaty magic in front of a truly appreciative crowd in Birmingham, AL, both with his band and solo acoustic. It is proof in the pudding that the man can deliver outside the confines of the recording studio. The tunes come from Thorn's two albums, Mission Temple Fireworks Stand and Are You with Me?. Thorn may not be a household name, but it doesn't seem like he gives a rat's ass, either. This music is gritty, raucous, full of energy, and with a heart that pumps blood instead of sawdust. There is poetry in roadhouse music like this -- music that combines the blues, old-school R&B, roots rock & roll, and a true sense of working-class poetry. Standout tracks on the CD include the blue-eyed soul ballad "Every Little Bit Hurts," which is reminiscent of the great delivery of Eddie Hinton; the swampy blues-rock of "Burn Down the Trailer Park"; the midtempo rock ballad "I Have a Good Day"; and the smoking rocker "Rise Up," which is as close to a working-class rock anthem as exists in rock & roll today (and it should be sung at every political rally on both sides of the red and blue divide) -- one that is drenched in Southern soul, a bluesy groove, and a rock & roll heart. The sheer good-time excess of "Mission Temple Fireworks Stand" fuses gospel, Tony Joe White swamp funk, electric blues, and Jerry Lee Lewis piano rockabilly and turns them all inside out. The set closes with a barroom celebration of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?," which is perhaps the only way this old folk hymn should be sung in the post-9/11 world. There's a certain authenticity this music presents to listeners that is immediate, raw, and sincere. Thorn is no wannabe bluesman, nor is he a consummate rock & roll street poet. His roots go way deeper than that -- they are defined by a certain class consciousness that expresses pain through woolly raucous joy, and joy itself as something to raise the roof about. If anything, Thorn and his fine band play post-religious church music, and that church service happens in barrooms, in juke joints, and at backyard BBQs every night of the year. Thorn is a poet all right, one whose working-class roots didn't come from his parents and were passed down through the gene pool or by osmosis. They were earned and are worn as a greasy, sweaty badge of honor. He's one of those songwriters who may be too obvious and brash for most, but his words and music contain virtually everything gloriously and singularly vulgar about America and he makes no apologies for it. So Far So Good is a party that welcomes all regardless of race, class, creed, or religious belief. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek

Recording information: Workplay, Burmingham, AL (03/12/2005).

Bill Hinds (guitar); Michael Graham (keyboards); Jeffery Perkins (drums).

So Far So Good: The Best Of The Paul Thorn Band

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