Rock, folk, gospel, and funny.  Just a few words that come to mind when describing the experience that is a Paul Thorn concert.  Rose & I ventured north of Houston to take in our fourth gig with this engaging man at a cool venue called the Dosey Doe.  It is an old barn that had been in Kentucky and was transformed into a musical mainstay in the Woodlands area of Texas.The folks out there rolled out the red carpet for HMR and we enjoyed every minute of this evening from opener Etta Britt blasting us with the blues to PT doing his “thang” !

It is well known fact that Thorn grew up in Mississippi the son of a preacher and was influenced by his uncle who was a pimp.  Hence the title of one of his albums ‘Pimps and Preachers’ which he drew from this night, but played a lot from his newest offering ‘What The Hell Is Goin’ On”.  The title cut brings home the bacon big time talking about the chaos that IS life in today’s world. The cut had Elvin Bishop sit in on it on the CD and the whole new album consists of killer covers that Thorn admired and wanted to cut with his killer band.  He felt he needed a break from “himself” and just felt like cuttin’ loose and havin’ fun for awhile.

Well he accomplished that and then some backed by one thee coolest guitar cats around in Bill Hinds.  BH did double duty playing lead for Etta Britt and I adore his pickin-and-grinnin’, funk -in -your face, shoe shufflin’ riffs he spits out all night long!   Michael Graham does a awesome job of piano and organ which are very strong in Thorn’s music.

Super highlights of the night were ‘Burning Down the Trailer Park’, Buddy Miller ballad ‘Shelter Me Lord’, swamp fused rendition of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s ‘Snakefarm’, and a scorchin hot ‘Weeds in the Roses’ !

PT’s banter between tunes is never too long, but always classic like when he admired how a woman up front stirred her coffee with a fork or he apologized for possibly slobbering spit in a patron’s food up front!  As he’s done in the past Paul will let the band take a break and he does a mini set by his lonesome. ‘She’s Got A Crush On Me’ ruled and ‘Take My Love With You’ was very touching.  But the heart and soul of a Paul Thorn perfromance to me is his rockin’ roadhouse infused stuff that brings down the house like ‘Bull Mountain Bridge’, ‘I Have a Good Day’, and goose bump induced sing a long ‘Rise Up’ !

In my book, Thorn represents a genuine caring “aw shucks” persona that is not only real, but refreshing.  His style never gets old and if you ain’t Paul Thornin’ then why the hell not?!  See ya out there supporting live music!