Before Paul Thorn made his living as a singer, he was a professional boxer. He also spent 12 years working at a furniture factory in his hometown of Tupelo, Miss.
“I was the one that put springs in seats — like when you sit on your recliner and you say, ‘Oh, this feels so good and soft,’ it’s a good likelihood that I may have put them springs in what you’re sitting on,” Thorn tells NPR’s Melissa Block. “I had to stand there in the same spot all day long, just pulling them springs and making everybody able to become even more sedentary.”
Thorn still lives in Tupelo. He’s released six albums of songs filled with characters from pimps to preachers, and from a small-town temptress working at a Dairy Queen to a guy running a combination revival tent and fireworks stand. Thorn is about to begin touring for his newest album, What the Hell Is Goin’ On? This one is all cover songs, many of them plucked from obscurity.
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