On top of being "a Southern-rock Bob Seger" (Rolling Stone), Paul Thorn is also an accomplished folk art painter, and he's crafted a vivid piece for the cover of his new album 'Pimps and Preachers' out June 22 on Perpetual Obscurity Records.
Set at the corner of Redemption Lane and Turn Out Blvd., the colorful artwork is bristling with rich detail, from the angel and devil seated on their respective street signs to a pennant's Pentecostal symbols to the fistfuls of cash on the pimp's side of the street that bear a curious resemblance to those in the preacher's collection plate. The cover, and album's title track, depicts the strange-but-true story of Thorn's preacher father and pimp uncle, two of his biggest influences.
The album cover, Thorn says, "describes who I am.” Which, Kris Kristofferson opines, is someone "absolutely Southern, absolutely original, full of heart and humor and surprises and street-wise details of trailer parks and turnip greens and love and lust that have the unmistakable ring of truth."
Check out the album's title track here:
http://www.shorefire.com/media/pimps_20100422_112015.mp3 
