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Music fest's offbeat guest

Paul Thorn brings his wry songs to Riverhawk.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published November 10, 2006

As a boxer, Paul Thorn learned the value of throwing a good left hook. That talent served him well enough to make him the ninth-ranked middleweight fighter in 1987 and earned him a shot at boxing phenomenon Roberto Duran.

Thorn didn't fare well against Duran, and by the sixth round it was all over. And, for the most part, so was Thorn's boxing career.

These days, Thorn's best jabs come from his music. The slightly twisted humor of the 42-year-old son of a Pentecostal preacher has led to such tunes as Burn Down the Trailer Park; Joanie, the Jehovah Witness Stripper; and Fabio & Liberace, and it has earned him a legion of dedicated followers.

"My view of the world tends to be out of the mainstream," Thorn said in his unmistakable Mississippi accent. "I tend to sympathize with people that probably don't deserve a lot of sympathy."

Thorn, who will headline Saturday at the Riverhawk Music Festival at the Sertoma Youth Ranch in southeast Hernando County, admits that his music is full of conflict. Growing up in Tupelo, Miss., in a household that forbade rock 'n' roll and dancing, Thorn didn't discover his muse until his late teens.

Then his Uncle Merle introduced him to a bigger world. "He was a pimp in California, and very successful at it," Thorn said. "He introduced me to all kinds of music I had never really listened to before, stuff that really had a big effect on me."

Thorn was inspired to pen a song he co-wrote with Billy Maddox that became the title track of his 1997 A&M Records debut, Hammer and Nail.

Although lauded for his fresh songwriting, Thorn was dropped by the label shortly after it was bought out by a conglomerate. He wasn't all that sad about it, he said. "I prefer going my own way."

Thorn takes pride in his self-made career, which includes a side gig as an artist. His drawings and paintings, like his music, capture his wry outlook on life.

"It's my little way of escaping," he said. "Sometimes the world just gets a little too strange."

Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1435.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 22:46:11]