I first discovered Paul Thorn through his 2018 cover of The O’Jays hit “Love Train.” I had never thought of it as a song that needed a rethink. It was a pop soul gem that crossed a lot of genres, and touched an audience so wide that playing with its parts almost seemed like a suicide mission. But Thorn tackled it with reverence, bringing it down in pace and back to the churches where he learned to sing, growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi. The result was a song that was so singularly special, defined by its own identity and powerful enough to catch the ears of so many new listeners. In the end, that’s what music should always do: connect with people across every sense and leave them feeling better than they did before the first note was played.
Across his career, singer/songwriter Thorn has made that the center of his writing and his act. His music is about promise and possibility. It’s not overly philosophical, and it doesn’t intend to impress with intellectualism. Along with long-time writing partner Billy Maddux, Thorn has instead followed the approach forged by his longtime friend and mentor John Prine, someone who made an impact with economy, simple statements, and clear speaking. Prine assembled this mindset into a language we can all relate and react to in the moment. Thorn has always done the same. He just seems more focused on making us feel good, smiling more, and getting our boogie on.
His talents were first discovered by Police drummer Stewart Copeland’s brother Miles, a prominent music industry figure. That led to a label signing in 1997, and Thorn’s recording career was off and running. Since then, his creative skill sets have expanded through opening for big name acts like Sting, Huey Lewis and the News, Marianne Faithfull, Mark Knopfler, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Toby Keith, and Jeff Beck. The colors these experiences have added to his palette are many and can be found in his new album, Life is Just a Vapor.
Paul Thorn, Life is Just a Vapor, album cover.
There, his voice, which sits somewhere between Boz Scaggs and Radney Foster, sits on top of songs with the swagger of Uh-huh-era Mellencamp and the festive bop of a Delbert McClinton live record. It’s a party spin, filled with highway rockers like the sizzling “I’m Just Waiting,” a track that shares a strut with Sheryl Crow’s “My Favorite Mistake.” It reaches cruising altitude with the help of Joe Bonamassa’s guitar parts, heavy on the down beat, with solid background vocal support from the Muscle Shoals session singers. It’s the perfect point of entry to the record.
Copper sat down to talk with Thorn about his process, how it was applied to this new record, and what music continues to inspire him, even if it sits outside of what people have come to call “his sound.”
Ray Chelstowski: This year you turned 60 years old. Did it have an impact on how you approach your music and creative process or was it just another trip around the sun?
Paul Thorn: That’s a good question and it comes with many answers. First, I have my health. So many of my peers, some who are younger than me, they don’t. So, I’m thankful for that. I know that I ain’t never gonna be on the cover of Tiger Beat magazine because I’m not Donny Osmond. I’m not a pretty boy anymore. But I have a whole lot to offer the world and I’m happy to be alive. Every morning when I get up I say “thank you” to the higher power because this thing is over quick.
RC: Life is Just a Vapor has a really great party vibe. You seem to head into the studio about every two years. What is the trigger that tells you it’s time to put things to tape?
PT: It’s when you have some songs that you feel really good about. It’s a simple answer, but if you don’t have good songs you’re just wasting your time and wasting your money. I’ve had the same band for over 25 years, with the exception of one member who’s been with me for about eight years. We go into the studio and I get out my acoustic guitar and I play my songs for the band. Then we put our heads together and begin to make up parts. We build and we construct it piece by piece. Everyone comes up with a specific part, and that’s what I think makes a great record. A good example of that from another era is any Cars record. The songs are great but the arrangements are incredible. Every instrument is doing a specific thing. That’s what I try to do and it takes a lot of time to create those parts.
RC: Is the studio like a second home for you?
PT: I don’t think of myself as a producer but my songwriting partner, Billy Maddox, is in my opinion as good a producer as you could ever hope for. The engineer of the record, Michael Graham, is also my keyboardist. I will make suggestions, but the bulk of that work was done by them. I was there, but I can’t really call myself a producer. I’m a songwriter and a singer.
Courtesy of Jeff Fasano.
RC: What is it about Billy that makes him a good songwriting partner?
PT: I met Billy when I was 17 and he is 10 years older than me. He was then an already established country songwriter. He had had a lot of success writing songs for artists like T. Graham Brown and had a big song with Hank Williams Jr. called “If Heaven Ain’t A lot Like Dixie.” Billy saw that I had talent, but it needed polishing, and I needed to learn the craft of writing a song. So, we started meeting two nights each week and we built up a huge catalog of songs. I don’t consider myself to be a “country singer” but the way I construct songs is like that. I tell stories and I’m influenced by old school country songwriting, and that’s something Billy is really great at.
We have a way of writing where we don’t want anything to be abstract. Everything in our songs is very literal and you can tell what’s going on in the song. The lyrics are so simple they almost sound elementary. But when you put the right lines together it becomes very powerful. It’s an economy of words, but ones that hit real hard.
RC: You music tends to be very positive and uplifting in its message. Is that something you intentionally apply your focus to?
PT: There’s a time and a place to cry in your beer. We’ve all been there. But that’s not where I’m at now. Like I said before, I’m 60 years old and thankful to be alive. I want to put things in my songs that help people feel better when they are feeling bad.
RC: You have a number of big-name guests on this record. How do you know when a song demands someone else’s contributions?
PT: Well for example, I’ve been friends with Joe (Bonamassa) for several years and I had this song “I’m Just Waiting” where the groove it has, even just on my acoustic guitar, sounded like something he could add to. So I called him and asked him how much he’d charge me to play on this record. There was a long pause and he said: “How about two Diet Cokes?” I still owe him those two Diet Cokes, but what I’m hoping is that this record breaks out big and when it does I’ll buy him a whole six pack!
RC: You’ve opened for some big-name acts over the years. What’s the one piece of advice you’ve received that you think about every day?
PT: That’s a hard question to answer. I guess the best advice I’ve been given that I rarely do is to keep my mouth shut, listen, and observe what’s going on around me, because songs are everywhere. You could be in a Waffle House and overhear someone say something and realize that it’s a great line. I carry an old school note pad in my pocket at all times because there are nuggets everywhere. The talent comes in when you know what a good line really is. That’s what made John Prine and his music so beloved. He could explain in very simple terms what was going on in everyday peoples’ lives.
RC: Who were the bands you loved growing up that might surprise your fans?
PT: I get made fun of about this all the time. When people ask me what the one album I listen to more than any other is, it’s hard to beat the first Boston album. It’s surprising because it doesn’t sound like anything I do, but when it comes to putting on my headphones and listening to pure ear candy, that’s it. It’s an incredible album, especially when you know its history. Tom Scholz [had a studio in] in his house and created all of those parts. It goes back to what I was saying about the importance of parts, and how they make records great. I’ve listened to it a million times. In fact, I just listened to it yesterday!
Header image courtesy of Jeff Fasano.
