Paul Thorn - SUNKEN GARDEN SUNDAYS

Paul Thorn The first thing you notice is The Voice, unique and distinctive, the voice of a man who has walked a long, hot span over dusty Mississippi country roads. At turns soulful, raw, melancholy, brazen, funky, circumspect, serene, brooding, and mutinous, the voice expresses the range of human emotions, from forlorn grimness to incandescent optimism. And after repeated listens, you realize that his is not merely the voice of a poet but also of a merciful prophet, a summation not unjustified. Those who follow the career of Paul Thorn believe he is both. His newest CD is A Long Way From Tupelo, a collection of songs which once again illustrates Thorn�s versatility and authentic connection to the music of the Mississippi heartland: blues, country, gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll. Thorn excels as a musical storyteller. Maybe, given his background, he just can't help it. His songs are conduits for that gritty part of the South where beleaguered wisdom is as likely from the bottom of a bottle of Johnny Walker Red as it is from the pulpit of an old country church. And the latest Paul Thorn CD remains true to form.