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"Part
Everly's, part-Orbison, Burch wears these wonderful songs like a
second hide, slipping effortlessly into honky-tonk, old-time
swing and lonesome folk. The sort of record you wish more people
made, rather than stoking a dying art."
(Uncut)
Read the exclusive new Americana UK Paul Burch interview here.
Born in Washington DC, Burch grew up playing music in Virginia and Mississippi. String band concerts near the family farm in Virginia and Washington D.C.'s mix of R&B, bluegrass, and rock n' roll ignited an early love for making music.He moved to Music City in the early 90's writing and playing and eventually forming the WPA Ballclub with steel guitarist Paul Niehaus (also a member of Lambchop). The quintet took up a weekend residency at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, the famed Opry honky tonk and writer's haunt and soon their marathon shows were drawing crowds downtown and notices in national country and rock magazines. Some of the band's first supporters included producer Owen Bradley (with whom the band recorded), Chet Atkins, and Charley Pride & Johnny Cash producer Cowboy Jack Clement.
Since arriving in Nashville, PB had made it a mission of the WPA to reach out to the musicians who played on Music City's greatest records. Among those who have performed or recorded with the WPA include Vassar Clements, Bill Monroe, Marianne Faithful, A-team bassist Bob Moore, Richard Bennett (Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris) and Jason Ringenberg of Jason & the Scorchers. In 1995, PB was invited to join Lambchop (Nashville's internationally acclaimed country-soul collective) playing vibes. PB also appears on albums with Vic Chesnutt and Josh Rouse. Paul has toured as a gust of Ryan Adams and Laura Cantrell.
The wonderful new album available for £9.99 here now.
Paul just gets better and better:
"Ballads,
blues and western swing, the songs have the mysterious ability to
glide just above the carpet, as if they are playing on a magic
jukebox in a haunted honky-tonk."
(The Guardian) *****
"One
of Nashville's unsung heroes, Burch makes the kind of twangy
country music that wouldn't sound out of place on a 50's Texas
diner jukebox... a woozy, honky-tonk kind of heaven."
(Q)
"The nods to Hank Williams are unmistakable: the eloquent, easy-going, happy-sad yodelling croon, the titles and lyrics that evoke a time when creeks had a tendency to rise... this isn't alternative country, it's the real, additive-free deal. Fine Grand Young Opry from the singer-guitarist-writer who moonlights in Lambchop" (MOJO)****
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1.
Lovesick Blues Boy 2. Bad Girl She Used to Be 3. Life Of A Fool 4. Deserted Love (mp3 clip) 5. C’est Le Moment (mp3 clip) 6. Call My Name 7. Time To Cry 8. Sparks Fly Out 9. Moments Of Weakness 10. Last Time I Fell 11. Like Railroad Steel 12. My Last Match |
(Click to buy for £9.99) |
"Go buy this" - Country Music People ****
This is the first UK release from Paul Burch & WPA Ballclub and boy, oh boy, is it a cracker! Paul plays with Kurt Wagner's country-soul collective Lambchop lives in Nashville, writes great songs and sings 'em great too. We'll let the critics tell you the rest...
| Willpower
(mp3 clip) ...Forever Yours... Isolda (mp3 clip)...Long Distance Call ...Tonight,Tonight... How Do I Know? (mp3 clip)...Hard Women Blues...Hitting Bottom...Oh My Darlin'...Carter Cain...Foolish Things The Lonely Do...Head Over Heels... |
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Some Reviews of "Blue Notes"...
"Excellent" (BMCA newsletter)
"5 out of 5" (Country Music People)
"A banquet of delights...4 out 5" (Q)
"This magnificent record will change your life." (Yorkshire Post)
"A celebration of old bar room country...gorgeously soulful creations." (Independent)
"Paul Burch plays a big-hearted update of honky tonk tradition - recommended." (The Observer )
"If there's a better album than this in 2001 I'll eat my stetson." (Belfast Telegraph)
"He's more country than most all the acts that have featured in the Billboard Country charts in the last 12 months...as long as the likes of Burch are around, then music fans will be entertained." (Country Music Roundup)
Last Of My Kind is a soundtrack of sorts to a book called Jim The Boy, written by one of Paul's Nashville neighbours Tony Earley. Paul explains:
"Tony and I went out to see Earl Scruggs play one night, and Tony asked if I would play some old time country music at his reading at the Southern Festival of Books. I offered I would instead like to write songs based on his characters. I intended the recordings to be a sketch of each characters style and voice, but the songs quickly took on a life of their own."
1. Aliceville Rag |
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(Click to buy for £9.99) |
"Written as an accompaniment to a friend's novel, this is a heart-warming collection revolving round a 10 year old's rite of passage in the old-time South West. Care-worn parents, unscrupulous horse-traders and a dying grandather are among the characters featured in songs which capture the spirit of the times, right down to some exquisite yodelling" - The Observer
"Traditional to a fault and inspired by dreams of the Carter family, it features an array of heart-warming songs that - given an electric lick or two - would not seem out of place on the Opry years ago...a record of considerable charm" - Mojo
| 1.
Monterey (mp3 clip) 2. Losers Way to Get Along 3. Living, Forgiving 4. 13 Nights (mp3 clip) 5. Born to Wait 6. Sage Advice 7. Your Red Wagon 8. Jackson, TN (mp3 clip) 9. Sundown Is a Lonesome Time 10. Harper's Ferry Blues 11. I'm Your Daddy Now 12. Baby I Ain't Gotta Do That No More 13. Down Hill Shady |
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(Click to buy for £9.99) |
"What separates this record from the nostalgia-ridden
recreations of the past is the attention to detail, the
flourishes, the craft and the sincerity of the performances.
Starting with banjo calling the horses to the starting line the
horseracing Winner’s Circle with its Roy Rogers surface but
the superb banjo and lap steel playing propel it to the front of
the field. These songs sound like they could have been written 30
years ago, they are warm, it sounds at times like the band are
actually playing in your speakers, whether in the strut of
Borrowed and Broke or the skiffle stomp of I am Here. You can
imagine Dennis Potter characters mouthing these songs ignoring
the desperation of their everyday lives. The slow ballad Ring the
Bell snakes around like smoke avoiding cold air, the vocals
resigned and sad the music in perfect harmony. Harmony plays a
large part in Walking to McCourey as layers of voices soar time
dissolves modernity fades to a time where men wore hats. The
vocals border on the great Hank (we even get a yodel) [think
Johnny Cash and Dylan too) and the sentiments and music have
their roots there too. This originally came out in 1997 but this
is the first UK release, if you wondered what Lambchop members
did on their days off now you know they make smart authentic
honky tonk country music just as you suspected."
(www.americana-uk.com)
1. Winner's Circle (mp3 clip) |
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(Click to buy for £9.99) |
"One
of the most important and effortlessly listenable voices in
modern country - 4 stars"
Maverick Magazine
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