'Pimps and Preachers'
Irreverent roots-rocker Paul Thorn preaches the gospel of good times
By Bliss 07/22/2010
“My daddy had a Cadillac, my uncle drove a Ford
One was Satan’s Angel and one worked for the Lord
They had some hard-earned wisdom, they both became my teachers
I was a young disciple of pimps and preachers
The school of life was open each day I went to class
When I didn’t pay attention they kicked me in the ass”
Thus opens the title track of Paul Thorn’s stirring “Pimps and Preachers,” which debuted at #83 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart last month and currently sits atop the Americana album and radio airplay charts. Not bad for an independent artist rooted in Tupelo, Miss. Judging by Thorn’s prodigious (and frequently hilarious) Facebook posts, it’s his most personally rewarding release so far.
“People think ‘Pimps and Preachers’ is just some catchy phrase, but it actually has real meaning in my life,” Thorn drawls during a phone interview on tour. “My dad was a preacher, my uncle was a pimp. When I was growing up, those were my mentors. I didn’t have anything to compare it to so it was normal to me.”
In a widely quoted squib, the San Francisco Chronicle likened Thorn to “Kris Kristofferson backed by the Stones.” That’s not far from true. Thorn started performing in his father’s church at 3. “I got to go to both [black and white] churches — that’s where I got my musical mojo, just like Elvis.” He was “mesmerized” when his uncle, a Vietnam vet who’d “disappeared for 10 years” in Los Angeles, materialized when Thorn was 12.
“The pimping thing is not something he’s proud of,” he says, “[but] a lot of the street wisdom he had … really served me well.”
A colorful character with character, Thorn peppers conversation with sports analogies while slyly deploying references to cultural dichotomies to stay on message marketing his album. His Renaissance-man creds include stints as professional boxer, sky diver, furniture factory worker, painter and musician: “I just always enjoyed living life.”
He’s also a natural observer and collector of stories. (He claims to write short stories “all the time.”) Songs like the rollicking “I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love” and poignant “Love Scar” arose from personal experiences, as have older fan favorites like “Joannie the Jehovah’s Witness Stripper,” inspired by a neighborhood acquaintance. If his uncle’s lessons inform his irreverent humor, his father’s early gospel influence feeds Thorn’s swampy music and unsentimental lyrics.
“I don’t think anybody’s all light; there’s dark in everybody too,” he says. “It’s just like a chicken: if you cut a chicken’s head off and cut him open to eat, you’re going to find white meat and dark meat, and that’s kind of what’s on the inside of humans too — good and bad, dark and white.”
Paul Thorn Band plays the Mint, 6010 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 9 p.m. Wednesday; $10. For information, call (323) 954-9400. paulthorn.com, facebook.com/thornpage
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