ONSTAGE
Paul Thorn Eddie’s Attic Decatur, GA June 19, 2015 It had been several years since I had seen
Paul Thorn live with his band, and much longer since I had seen him play solo in such an intimate setting as Eddie’s Attic. I have long been a fan of Eddie’s, a small, 165 capac- ity listening room that hasn’t got a bad seat in the house. It’s a venue that helped break the careers of many local artists, including John Mayer, Sugarland, Shawn Mullins and The Civil Wars, to name a few. Eddie’s features a wide variety of great artists- upcoming shows include Marty Stuart, Joan Osbourne, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Crystal Bowersox, The Atlanta Rhythm Section and Bobby Whitlock with his wife and musical collaborator CoCo Carmel. We met Jeffrey Perkins (Paul’s drummer,
who tonight was filling is for Paul’s business partner and c0-writer Billy Maddox as a multi-tasking assistant) and Paul right when we got to the venue. We went back to the dressing room and spoke with Paul for a while and soon it was time to take a seat in the listening room. It was still an hour ‘til show time so we ordered some dinner. For the record, the California salad with salmon added is primo. At 7:30, Paul made his way through the
packed room to the stage. He had played to a sold-out crowd the night before, and tonight he would play two more sold-out perform- ances. The crowd was hanging on every word Paul
said throughout the night as well as every word sung. Paul Thorn fans are devoted. They know all the words, and they never get tired of his humorous, sometimes hilarious be- tween songs stories.
Paul opened with the up tempo gospel style
rave up “I’m Still Here,” setting the tone for the 90-minute show that found him pulling out songs from several of his excellent al- bums. Highlights included the tear-jerker “That’s Life;” the hilarious “Fabio and Liber- ace;” the crowd-favorite, “800 Lb. Jesus;” and the set closer, “Love Scar.” There was an extra special performance of a song written by his friend, “Funky” Donnie Fritz called “She’s Got a Crush On Me.” Paul is so cool, he made a couple of minor guitar mistakes, having not played the song in a while, so he just stopped and asked the audience if it was okay if he started over. No nerves, just honesty. I love it. Another unexpected treasure in the set was
Paul’s version of the gospel standard “He Touched Me,” the same song once recorded by the man he shares a home town with, Elvis Presley. Beautiful The show was one for the books. I told my
friend on the way home that I would love to have that show on a CD. I love Paul’s band, but there’s something special about hearing just Paul and his guitar. That’s how I first heard him in 1996 at The Handlebar in Greenville,SC,, and I still love it. If you get a chance to see Paul Thorn in concert, with his
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