Premium: $46 advance ($51 day of show)
Reserved: $40 advance ($45 day of show)
PAUL THORN
“I had my mind up that when I grew up, I was going to be a ventriloquist.” (His singing career actually began at 3 — in church, of course; Thorn’s dad was a Pentecostal minister.) Over a snaky rhythm enhanced by guest guitarist Luther Dickinson, Thorn fictitiously paints Geraldine as “a toxic opportunist looking for anything that will better her situation.” When she lands a dying old sugar daddy, she dumps Ricky. But karma catches up to Geraldine, while Ricky, thankfully, gets rescued. But Life is Just a Vapor is not all homilies and humor. “I’m Just Waiting,” a catchy, funky tune featuring blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, deftly examines relationship insecurity.
In “Chicken Wing,” over a cool melody on which guitarists Michael Graham and Bill Hinds (on slide) merge T. Rex with Southern rock, a former pimp and scam artist admits: “I’m in the winter of my life / I love my dog, I like my wife / I wash the dishes, I sweep the floor / I keep a 12-gauge behind the door.”
For the record, the song is not about the uncle Thorn introduced on Pimps and Preachers, one of a dozen albums he’s released on his own Perpetual Obscurity Records since founding the label in 2000. (Thorn made his recording debut on A&M Records in 1997, after ex-Police manager Miles Copeland III heard him and had him open for then-client Sting, one of A&M’s top talents.)
And just to be clear, Thorn’s definition of pimp includes “anybody that manipulates people and doesn't give them nothing in return.” “I'm around pimps every day, especially in the music business,” he adds. “A pimp is a larger word than just somebody on the corner with a gold chain. ‘Chicken Wing’ is an overview of a bunch of pimps that I have known in my life and I melded their stories together. … all that song is about is different seasons of life.”
Betsy’s discography consists of broad genre spanning styles. She spent a few years in Bat Cave, NC listening and picking bluegrass tunes whilst honing her songwriting skills after leaving Charleston, SC where she played to the seasonal crowds (7) nights a week. That pocket of time changed the trajectory of her music. “Sweeping up the Porch” is a great example of the soulful vocals mixed with that mountain sound. She began recording her second album “Held up by Progress” in 2002 with John Keane in Athens, GA. There are remnants of bluegrass and a southern rock twinge to the songs and the band from that era.
Athens proved to be a good move as it was easy to team up with fellow creators on every corner. The next album “Still Waiting” has the americana blues rock her music still echoes today. “This Far” is the first recording without the BareKnuckle Band. This collection of songs were focused more on songwriting and pairing down the big band sound featuring acoustic instruments with ballads touching back on that familiar mountain tone that is ever present in her songwriting. “Words”, "Only Child", "From Here", and "Downhearted" are the most recent releases, recorded in Nashville with Grammy Award winning producer Brandon Bell.
Betsy has been performing with the Athens rock band Bloodkin since the early 2000’s, and since the passing of lead singer Danny Hutchens, has taken on a greater role performing with the band on a regular basis promoting their newest release “Black Market Tango”. Eric Carter, co-founder of Bloodkin, has enlisted the help of Betsy and good friend and musical cohort Tori Pater to cover the large catalogue of the infamous Athens band.
