Hometown Crowd Set To Welcome Paul Thorn’s ‘Mission Temple Fireworks Revival Show’

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A well known singer – songwriter returns to his old stomping grounds this evening with a performance in Tupelo.

Paul Thorn has been making music full time for more than two decades and is in Northeast Mississippi with his “Mission Temple Fireworks Revival” show.

For Paul Thorn, playing every night to a live audience never gets old, but there is a downside.

“Physically it never gets tiring, for me the biggest thing I have to deal with as far as anything negative is the time I have to spend away from my family,” Thorn said.

But Thorn’s family and friends will be in the audience at his Tupelo concert.

“There might be people here that I haven’t seen in years, that’s the big payoff for me, it’s a gospel show, my mom and dad who have been ministers all their lives, recently retired, and they’re going to get to come see the gospel show they’ve never seen it live, it’s going to be an exciting time,” he said.

Thorn is sharing the stage at his “Mission Temple Fireworks Revival Show” with the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the McCrary Sisters, the show, and his new CD, “Don’t Let the Devil Ride’ returns to his musical roots.

“When I was growing up, the white people worshiped in one church and black people worshiped in another. But our family we would go visit the black churches and I especially liked the music at the black churches, I actually liked it better than at the white churches because it was more rhythm and blues,” Thorn said.

Since he released his first album in 1997, Paul Thorn’s songs have reflected real life and his music is meant to put a smile on people”s faces, with songs everyone can relate to.

“It brings everybody together, the garbage man might be standing next to the mayor, but in that setting, it’s all the same, but really, I think the garbage man is more important than the mayor, because if the garbage man didn’t show up, there would be a lot of garbage in my yard, I can live without the mayor but I got to have my garbage man,” he said.

Thorn says he plans to keep writing, recording and touring, as long as the mayor, garbage man and other fans continue showing up.

Thorn’s “Mission Temple Fireworks Revival Show” was videotaped for a documentary on Mississippi Public Broadcasting this past summer.