Live at Skipper’s Smokehouse - Paul Thorn

Presented by WMNF, 88.5, a special solo acoustic performance! Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, raised among the same spirits (and some of the actual people) who nurtured the young Elvis generations before, Thorn (paulthorn.com) has made some of the most emotionally restless yet fully accessible music of our time. Thorn’s ninth album, Pimps & Preachers, takes on a central theme of Thorn’s youth: the pull of polar opposites, one representing the severe ecstasies of fundamental faith and the other the pleasures stigmatized and yet glamorized by the church.Thorn’s knack for using snapshots from everyday routine as the elements of this exquisite writing owes entirely to his distinctive abilities and commitment to linking these elements into a profession of mercy and forgiveness is, ultimately, the real message.

Also with Amanda Shires (amandashires.net). With a charming Texas twang and fetching vibrato,  Shires can dance playfully around a melody or haunt a line like a mournful ghost, and she deftly employs her fiddle/violin, ukulele and even whistling skills to similar effect. The resulting sound is a beautiful but woozily surrealistic swoon — as well befits an artist who cites Leonard Cohen and alt-country dark horse Richard Buckner as two of her biggest musical influences.

You can purchase advance tickets for WMNF shows here at Skipper's in person in the Oyster Bar during business hours, online at www.wmnf.org/events or by calling the station during business hours at 813-238-8001.