{"id":408,"date":"2013-10-22T19:00:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=408"},"modified":"2015-10-07T20:23:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T20:23:34","slug":"paul-thorn-w-cris-jacobs-rams-head-tavern-annapolis-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/22\/paul-thorn-w-cris-jacobs-rams-head-tavern-annapolis-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Thorn w\/ Cris Jacobs – Ram’s Head Tavern – Annapolis, MD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Dave Clements <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 22, 2013 at 07:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"My wife Cathi and I feel so blessed to be able to listen to and enjoy so much live music near our home in the north Houston metropolitan area. Not every city has what the Greater Houston area offers!\u00a0 Venues like the Dosey Doe Big Barn, The Music Caf\u00e9, The Woodlands Pavilion, The Corner Pub, the Crighton Theatre, and Red Brick Tavern have all given us fond memories of great performances.\u00a0 The artists have given their all to entertain us on any given night over the last many years.<\/p>\n

It gets even more special when we are out of town and find an opportunity to see even more terrific live music while we are traveling. Such an occasion occurred last night in historical Annapolis, Maryland.<\/p>\n

Six of our dearest friends who live in Maryland and are music fanatics and true aficionados were willing to join us on a \u2018school night\u2019.\u00a0 Our awesome destination was a live music venue in downtown Annapolis right around the corner from where George Washington passed when he governed our country.\u00a0 And it was just down the street from where some of America\u2019s finest young men and women are trained to defend our country at the United States Naval Academy. \u2018Go Navy, Beat Army!\u2019<\/p>\n

The Rams Head Tavern is tucked into a fairly small historic space on West Street, but the venue is not small on reputation or impact.\u00a0 On the east coast live music scene, Rams Head is known far and wide as the place to go to listen to some of the best touring artists around.\u00a0 This is the perfect setting for immensely talented musicians that aren\u2019t the \u2018stadium packing\u2019 kind.\u00a0 These artists are sometimes either early or late in their career, or are simply the real deal journeyman entertainers.\u00a0 They\u2019ve honed their craft, work hard, grinding out their careers town by town, show by show, one night after another for many weeks at a time.<\/p>\n

What drew us to Rams Head this particular night was the privilege of seeing Mr. Paul Thorn, the quintessential music journeyman.\u00a0 At 49, Paul and his amazing, tight sounding band\u00a0 (Bill Hinds, Michael \u201cDr. Love\u201d Graham, Ralph Friedrichsen, and Jeffrey Perkins) crisscross the country ready to pile out of their ten passenger white van and give their all.\u00a0 And they never disappoint.\u00a0 They impress the heck out of audience members seeing them for the first time and reinforce the allegiance of the Paul Thorn followers who hardly ever miss a chance to catch his show if he is anywhere close to where they live. This particular night two guy \u2018PT groupies\u2019 from my home town of Virginia Beach were there to enjoy Thorn and the band, another lady flew in from Oklahoma to give herself her own birthday present\u2026watching Paul perform.\u00a0 Yes, he has those kinds of fans.<\/p>\n

And Paul delivered.\u00a0 He did tonight what I\u2019d seen him do many times before; knock it out of the ballpark.\u00a0 Or, given that he is a former professional boxer, he gave us a knock out show!<\/p>\n

\"Image\"The \u2018undercard\u2019 for the evening was Cris Jacobs and company, who did a near hour set to get the evening off to a great start.\u00a0 Jacobs was the front man for a very popular local band, The Bridge, from Baltimore.\u00a0 He and his band put out a great vibe.\u00a0 He also fits into that journeyman category.\u00a0 Too bad a broader audience may not have the pleasure of hearing him perform.\u00a0 He has enough talent but that \u2018stadium packing act\u2019 train will probably leave without him on board.<\/p>\n

Still, we hope to see Cris out of Baltimore one day…a tour of Texas would be good.\u00a0 I really liked one comment he made before departing the stage.\u00a0 He said, \u201cIt’s always nice to play when people are listening.\u201d\u00a0 Well said, man.<\/p>\n

Now for the main event.\u00a0 Out of Tupelo, Mississippi in the blue trunks Kick Butt Paul Thorn hit the stage at about nine and was relentless for two hours.\u00a0 Well, other than a moment after the second song when he unstrapped his guitar and dashed from the stage.\u00a0 I thought he had to make an emergency pit stop but what really happened was he left his set list in the green room! He would pit stop later in the show \u2026check out the photo gallery and see.<\/p>\n

Regarding his set list he did a perfectly balanced job of sharing his music.\u00a0 He included a lot of my favorites, some of his new stuff, and of course the thoroughly entertaining \u2018between songs\u2019 banter.\u00a0 As an audience member, you can’t wait to hear what his next funny observation might be.\u00a0 He had a unique and clever way in phrasing things and way more times than not he tickles the heck out of me.\u00a0 Given the noise level throughout the night, the rest of the crowd enjoyed this as well.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"He sang A Heart Like Mine, 800 Pound Jesus, Hammer and Nail, as well as two of my favorites \u2013 I Don\u2019t Like Half the Folks I Love and I Have a Good Day Every Now and Then.\u00a0 He also performed Snake Farm from his album What the Hell is Goin\u2019 On?\u00a0 Another journeyman, Mr. Ray Wylie Hubbard, wrote that song and if you haven’t heard it I suggest you buy both versions on iTunes.\u00a0 Worth the money for sure!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately Paul didn’t play two other favorites of mine, Mood Ring and Burn Down the Trailer Park.\u00a0\u00a0 Not really complaining, I still left feeling like I got at least my money\u2019s worth plus much, much more.\u00a0 All of our Maryland friends are now turned on and tuned in to Mr. Thorn and rushed to join his fan club.<\/p>\n

I could go on and on with several more paragraphed describing this show\u2026from his little toy boy that \u2018peed\u2019 in a 5 to 6 foot stream on audience members, to the autographed can of Beanie Weenie\u2019s awarded to a fan, the free cruise cabin ticket drawing for the upcoming Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches tour (featuring Paul), and the fifteen minutes of ‘fellowship ‘ that occurred in the audience at the end of the set with Paul and his patrons.\u00a0 There were hugs, high fives, and lots of one on one connections between Paul and the fans.\u00a0 Nice move Paul \u2013 you are the man!<\/p>\n

Finally let me share what I heard from these lovely ladies about the PT Show: Joy \u201ca man of many talents’, Jackie \u201cboth groups were fabulous and what wonderful guitar work\u201d, Dru \u201cfun to listen to and\u2026easy on the eyes…but I’m not saying that!\u201d And my bride, after getting the hug from Paul that she has been waiting for for several years now, was rendered speechless.\u00a0 Hmmmm\u2026??<\/p>\n

Until next time remember there is no time to kill.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Dave Clements Oct 22, 2013 at 07:00 PM My wife Cathi and I feel so blessed to be able to listen to and enjoy so much live music near our home in the north Houston metropolitan area. Not every city has what the Greater Houston area offers!\u00a0 Venues like the Dosey Doe Big… <\/p>\n

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