Richmond - I had arrived a little early for the interview and was sitting in the sun outside the Canal Club wondering how this would go.  I had listened to all his music, followed him on Facebook, and read the articles.  Still, I was a little anxious – until the van pulled up.

A good friend of mine introduced me to the music of Paul Thorn last year.  I listened to him on XM and my iPod on a pretty regular basis.  I also had the pleasure of seeing him perform at another venue in Richmond in 2010.

Paul Thorn’s background is well documented.  Born in Wisconsin in 1964 and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi (also Elvis’ hometown), he is the son of a preacher, and his uncle was a pimp.  This unlikely combination was the genesis of his latest album Pimps and Preachers that came out in 2010.  Mr. Thorn has a rich background that even includes a stint as a professional boxer.  He fought a nationally televised fight with the former World Champion Roberto Duran in 1988.    

Thorn was discovered by Miles Copeland while playing local clubs in Tupelo.  He released his first album Hammer and Nail in 1997 after signing with A&M Records.  This would be his last album with this label. 

Paul Thorn’s easy smile and friendly demeanor quickly put me at ease.

33: I read that a lot of the music you heard in your earlier years was gospel. and you feel like that had a big influence on your music.
Paul Thorn: Completely, yeah.  Just like when Elvis was a kid.  He went to black churches and white churches, growing up just like me.  The black churches played what I call soul gospel, and in the white churches they played country-style gospel.  They don’t play that now.  The old style gospel is what I like.  That’s where I was singing in churches and getting in front of the congregation - that’s definitely my training ground.

33: I read that your father was a preacher and your uncle was a pimp.  When your uncle showed up, had he gotten out of that line of work?
PT: That’s right.  We hadn’t heard from him in ten years and thought he was dead, and then just out of the blue he reappeared.  He was a pimp for ten years, and he never even got any dirt under his fingernails.  But he had an awakening, and he realized that it was a terrible thing to be part of, and once he put it behind him he came to Mississippi to be a square and got a regular day job.  Even though he left that behind, he had ten years of engrainment that was still inside him.  He was still that person deep down.  So, he started mentoring me on a part of the world I didn’t know about.  I grew up in the church, that’s all I knew.  He schooled me on the dark side of life.  Boy, I tell you what, having the mentorship of a pimp and a preacher is a good way to prepare you for the broader world.  You understand the dark end of life.

33: Do you have your own record label?
PT: Yes, I put out nine CDs, and all but one came out on Perpetual Obscurity.  I encourage all independent artists to do it.  If they can find a way to do it, it’s not impossible to print your own CDs, and you can put them out yourself.  You don’t have to have some label, not in today’s world.  You can sell them at your shows, you can sell them on the internet, and you can actually get paid for your CDs.  When you get a record deal, you probably won’t get paid for your CDs.  They’ll have you in perpetual debt for life, and the only money you’ll make will be at your live shows unless a miracle occurs.  There are so many horror stories of young and gullible artists that just are so thrilled to get a record deal that they’ll sign anything.  There are exceptions, but it’s like winning the lottery.  The chance of getting big giant success and getting on the radio is slim to none.  And sadly, too, to get on the radio and be a mainstream artist, you have to water down what you do so much that it’s not even good any more.  The spirit’s out of it now.  It’s all about writing stuff that’s gonna appeal to everybody.  I would like to appeal to people, but I don’t want to just be consciously trying to appeal to everybody, because then it will be like bland soup.  So, when I turn on the radio today, for the most part I don’t hear anything that moves me or touches me. 

33: No interview with you would be complete without asking about your fighting career.
PT: You know, my pimp uncle was actually my trainer, too.  Being able to make it to a level where I was able to fight Roberto Duran is a pretty good testimony to him as a trainer.  They just don’t let anybody get in there with someone like that.  You have to be at least credible.  I was a good fighter, but I wasn’t good enough to be a world champion.  It takes a real special breed in any sport to be a champion.  It gets down to natural gifts.  I had a lot of determination, and I worked hard, but I didn’t have that gift that it takes to be a world champion which is why at the end of the sixth round they stopped it.  He cut me up pretty good, and they stopped it because of that.

33: I’d like to hear you talk about your visual art.
PT: I’ve been doing it since 1999.  Like my songs, I wanted my art to tell stories.  I started accumulating work, I had three or four gallery shows, sold some on my website.  I just came out with a coffee table book that’s called Pimps and Preachers.  It’s a book of my art and short stories.  Now, I quit selling my art because the stuff I’m doing now, I’m really digging deep inside myself.  I’m emotionally attached to them.  So, I’d have a hard time sellin ’em.  So I decided from now on, if I accumulate enough work, I’m just gonna do another book.  When I gained a little popularity, I realized people would buy anything I drew.  So there for a while, I churned out garbage and sold it to fools that didn’t know any better.  I’d like to apologize to all of them out there.

33: How do you think your music has changed over the years?
PT: I just try to not necessarily change but write about each season of my life as I’m going through it.  The reason I wrote the song "Pimps and Preachers" is at the age of 45, I was able to look back in retrospect and fully appreciate the great mentorship I got from them two men.  So, I wrote the song as a tribute to my father and uncle so that when they're gone, there’ll be a song that remembers them.

33: What are you planning to do next?
PT: Perpetuate growth in my career.  To grow in today’s world, in the music business, you got to go on tour and build a fan base.  You got to be active on the internet.  I have my Facebook and paulthorn.com.  I try to comment on my Facebook every day.  Stay in touch with my fans.  At the shows, I try to meet my fans and shake their hands; tell them how much I appreciate them coming.  That’s how you build it.  That’s how you do it.  It’s not that much different than what pimps and preachers do.  The pimp’s just trying to develop a congregation [laughs]; the preacher’s just trying to develop a congregation.  Paul Thorn’s trying to develop a congregation, and you get that by connecting with people.  So, we can have a relationship, because I don’t want to disconnect from my fans, do my show, and walk off the stage and not have any connection with them.  I like to go after the show and shake their hands.  A lot of artists I’ve met have missed one important fact when they go on stage.  The show is not for the artist, the show is for the fans, so it’s the artist’s job to give the fans what they want.  If they yell out a song, it ain’t going to hurt you to sing it [laughter].  Then, when you sing it, they’ll remember that you acknowledged them.  They’ll remember it for life.  It goes something like this.  If you do something nice for someone, they’ll tell three people.  If you do something bad to somebody, they’ll tell a hundred.

So, we went outside, and I took a couple of snapshots.  After that, he pulled his shirt off and took off down the trail on a run.  Later that evening, he shared a funny story about a pit bull that approached him on his run.  As usual, he won it over with his genuine humility and charm.

The show started about 9:30 P.M.  There was a nice crowd at the Canal Club.  It didn’t take long for the ladies and their hesitant partners to get on the dancefloor.  Thorn is the consummate songwriter whose music is an Americana mix of blues and rock.  His songs cover a wide range of themes, from serious ballads such as “Where Was I”, to personal stories like the title track to Pimps and Preachers, to hilarious tunes like “Viagra”.  He played about twenty of his songs over the next couple of hours.  Everyone had a broad smile on their face when they were leaving, myself included.

His lyrics often get philosophical.  For example, in "You Might Be Wrong" he sings, “Carry you faith wherever you go, / Mix it with love and let it show, / But keep your mind open as you move along, / Always remember you might be wrong”.  These are words to live by. 

Oh, and the last thing Paul wanted me to tell you was to become a Paul Thorn Facebook fan - “Cuz, if you don’t, you’re going to hell.”

PaulThorn.com

MySpace.com/PaulThorn

By Photojournalist: Scott Baker

Scott is a photo enthusiast that has taken a hobby to the level of obsession.  He began shooting local bands seriously in early 2009.  While Scott's style continues to develop, he favors tight shots charged with the energy and emotion that can only be found in a live performance.  His portfolio can be viewed at his online gallery at BakerStreetPhoto.com.