Paul Thorn, songwriter, musician, storyteller, artist, former welterweight boxer, son of a preacher and all-around good guy, walked onto the stage of the Omnova Theater Friday evening, sat down and to a full house unceremoniously announced he was going to play a song about “back-road fornication.” Thorn then launched into “A Long Way from Tupelo.”
The song involves a flat tire on a country road, a pretty girl on a front porch shelling peas, a glass of ice tea and a young couple alone on a long summer afternoon.
When he finished the song, Thorn paused and considered Bill Russell, owner of Premier Ford, who was sitting on the front row. “You’re the guy on TV, the guy on the commercials,” he said. Thorn’s delight was obvious.
Russell, who with his swept back graying hair, plaid shirt and red suspenders looked more a bluegrass fiddler than a high-powered businessman, smiled. The room howled.
You know, when you’re playing music and traveling, there is plenty opportunity for female companionship, Thorn said. “When I’m on the road and talking to my wife on the phone and she asks me about that, I say, ‘I wouldn’t lie to you.'” The room erupted again.
The phrase Russell has made famous became the evening’s mantra.
Later, as Thorn was beginning a song, a cell phone rang. Thorn stopped. “Somebody wants to buy a car,” he said.
Part of Paul Thorn’s genius is his ability to grab snippets of conversation, scenes from life and weave them into songs that are fresh, yet familiar.
Trailer parks, backwoods religion, small-town hypocrisy and lifeless marriages have proven to be fertile ground for his uproariously funny, often profound lyrics. Thorn, too, has the rare ability to take the salacious and make it poignant.
Thorn, 52, connects with his audience like no other musician I’ve seen. Friday’s concert offered a strong argument for seeing him live. Every performance is a different conversation. His boyish charm, his sense of wonder, is endearing. Most of the crowd were Thorn repeats, long-time devotees. Afterward, one shell-shocked first-timer could only say, “amazing.”
Attribute it to the acoustics of the room, Paul Brady’s expertise on the mixing board or Thorn’s matured voice, but the sound Friday evening was extraordinary. With the Omnova’s intimate setting, the performance was more like a house concert
Thorn played a solo, acoustic set, then after a break, returned with his band, a group of players, most of whom he’s been with for more than 15 years. The tenor changed, but the music was no less engaging. These guys are brilliant musicians, each a virtuoso in his own right. Thorn and his band have a single, cohesive sound, the result of years of traveling and making music together night after night.
Especially poignant was “That’s Life,” a song Thorn and his band played late in the evening. Thorn wrote the song using only his mother’s words. “I love my mother, and I made this song for her” he said. Here is the first verse and chorus:
Thank you I’m OK I guess,
I just need a little rest.
I’ll catch up on my sleep tonight.
I ain’t complainin’ that’s life.
I’ve got blueberries in the yard.
I bought a hundred mason jars.
I’m gonna pick them
When they’re ripe.
Another season, that’s life.
[Chorus]
Wipe that tear out of your eye.
Wipe that tear out of your eyes;
behind the clouds the sun still shines.
You’re in my prayers every night;
enjoy the journey that is life.
After an encore featuring the band members standing in a circle and accompanied by a single mandolin, singing “Temporarily Forever Mine,” Thorn went downstairs and posed for pictures and signed CDs, T-shirts, posters and baseball caps for an hour and a half, until after midnight.
Tommy Jones, who has seen Thorn in concert more that 20 times, said Thorn’s acoustic set Friday evening was as good as any he’s seen. “And that’s saying something,” Jones said.
“I was thrilled for people to come in and have such a good time,” said Beverly Norris, Columbus Arts Council programing director. “That’s what makes it for me.”
Norris, who consistently brings exceptional talent to town, called Thorn’s performance magical.
I can’t imagine anyone there Friday evening thinking otherwise.
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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