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Feature Stories
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Written by Jeff Ignatius
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Wednesday, 02 March 2011 09:59 |
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 The cliché says that good writers mostly write what they know, so it’s little wonder that Paul Thorn has crafted an under-the-radar career as a respected songwriter and performer.
The title of his 2010 album is Pimps & Preachers, and he speaks of both from experience: His father was a minister, and his uncle was a pimp. “When I was a kid, them was the two guys that I hung around a lot,” Thorn said in a phone interview this week. “I got to witness what went on on both sides of the tracks of life – the dark and the light side of life.”
That uncle also taught the future songwriter to box and served as his trainer, and in 1988 Thorn fought (and lost to) Roberto Durán, considered one of the sport’s greats. Thorn also used to skydive.
In the mid-1990s, Thorn was plucked from a day job in a furniture factory and a regular gig singing in a pizza joint, signed to a major-label contract. And the first concert he ever attended was a Sting show – at which he was the opening act.
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Feature Stories
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Written by Jeff Ignatius
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Tuesday, 22 February 2011 15:12 |
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 Most bands dubbed “Americana” focus on a thin slice of roots music, but the Nashville-based outfit Buffalo Clover lays claim to a wide swath, all with a smart pop sensibility.
The band’s official biography says its styles range from “underdog gypsy punk to Motown boxcar blues, [and] vaudevillian acid rock to train-wreck folk,” and those labels are accurate both in terms of genre and vivid, mature execution. On any given night, Buffalo Clover might cover James Brown, Etta James, or Neil Young, and that also offers some sense of what appears to be a nearly boundless comfort zone.
The band – which performed at last year’s River Roots Live festival – will play the Redstone Room on February 26 and features two members from the Quad Cities area: singer/songwriter Margo Price (an Aledo, Illinois, native) and guitarist/banjoist Matt Gardner (who went to high school in Bettendorf).
That local connection is one reason to check out the emerging band, but Buffalo Clover has the goods, too. Pick Your Poison, the band’s 2010 release, demonstrates its expansive grasp in the span of three songs.
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Feature Stories
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Written by Chris Jones
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Tuesday, 15 February 2011 13:43 |
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Images by Quad Cities event photographer Chris Jones from February 14's Slash set at the i wireless Center. (Ozzy Osbourne headlined.) Click on any photo for a larger version.
For more of Jones' work, visit MusicRowPhotos.com.
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Feature Stories
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Written by Chris Jones
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Wednesday, 09 February 2011 09:17 |
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Images by Quad Cities event photographer Chris Jones from February 1's Avenged Sevenfold concert at the i wireless Center, with opener Stone Sour. Click on any photo for a larger version.
For more of Jones' work, visit MusicRowPhotos.com.
Avenged Sevenfold:
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Feature Stories
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Written by Jeff Ignatius
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Wednesday, 19 January 2011 05:25 |
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 There are breakup songs and breakup albums, and then there’s Fitz & the Tantrums – a breakup band.
Singer/songwriter Michael Fitzpatrick will be bringing his soul six-piece to the Redstone Room on February 7, and the group’s music is as infectious as its origin story is serendipitous. Esquire last year named Fitz & the Tantrums one of its “10 SXSW Bands to Add to Your iPod Now,” and that’s just one of the accolades the band has acquired in its two-year existence.
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