New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - Paul Thorn's life story is a fascinating one - born in Elvis' birthplace, son of a Pentecostal preacher, boxed former world champ Roberto Duran on national TV, worked in a furniture factory, jumped out of airplanes - but with his new album 'Pimps & Preachers' Thorn delves into perhaps the most interesting part of his strange-but-true story. Out June 22nd on Perpetual Obscurity Records, 'Pimps & Preachers,' specifically the title track and Thorn-created album cover, detail the influence and pull of his two greatest mentors - his father the Pentecostal preacher and his uncle the pimp.
Thorn's upbringing as the son of a Church of God minister is well documented, but the impact of his pimp uncle is one that has yet to come to light. His uncle showed up suddenly from California when Thorn was 12 years old. 'He was a pimp back in the day,' Thorn says. 'I'd never met him before, so when he came back to Mississippi he had all this street wisdom and I started hanging around him. My father was my mentor but I learned a lot from my uncle too. Everything I've accomplished has been influenced by the time I spent around these two men.'
This goes a long way toward explaining Thorn's ability to write songs that reflect both the darkness and the light of life with an even hand. Called 'a Southern-rock Bob Seger' by Rolling Stone, Thorn chronicles life's triumphs and hardships on the new album. 'I Hope I'm Doing This Right' displays his humble demeanor and also his view that it takes a sinner like Hank Williams to be able to write a song like 'I Saw The Light.' As Thorn says, 'it was because he was an alcoholic and a screw-up that he was able to write a song that beautiful.'
Tracks like 'Tequila Is Good For The Heart' and 'I Don't Like Half The Folks I Love' show off Thorn's more mischievous side and his innate sense of humor. The former details Thorn's belief that a little Cuervo can help mend a broken heart, while the latter finds Thorn expressing his occasional displeasure for the unattractive qualities of his 'loved ones.'
'Pimps & Preachers' builds on the breakout success of Thorn's last album 'Long Way From Tupelo.' With that release, Thorn performed the title track on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live, wrote first person essays for NPR and Huffington Post and achieved his highest Billboard 200 chart position to date.
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