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An Evening With Paul Thorn at Theatre Bristol: A Fundraiser for the Birthplace of Country Music

January 14, 2013

An Evening With Paul Thorn at Theatre Bristol on January 19, 2013: A fund-raising event for the Birthplace of Country Music. Enjoy heavy hors d'oeuvres, drinks, desserts, and music! Event starts at 6:30pm, tickets are $75. Please call 423-573-1927 for information.

Paul Thorn took an unexpected detour on the road to recording a follow-up to his most successful release, 2010's Pimps and Preachers. After writing many discs of semi-autobiographical tunes that have drawn comparisons to John Hiatt and John Prine, the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter — hailed as the "Mark Twain of Americana" — decided to do an album of covers. "I wanted to take a break from ...myself," he reveals, "do something different, and just have fun."

The collection, entitled What The Hell Is Goin' On? (due May 8th on Perpetual Obscurity/Thirty Tigers) finds Thorn putting his own gritty rock stamp on some of his favorite songs. There are some names familiar to Americana fans (Buddy Miller, Ray Wylie Hubbard), some lesser-known (Foy Vance, Wild Bill Emerson) and some surprises. The Buckingham/Nicks tune Don't Let Me Down Again originated on that duo's debut, not during the Fleetwood Mac era, while the Paul Rogers/Free song that Thorn chose to cover is an obscure one, Walk In My Shadow.