Soon after moving to Nashville in the early 90's, Paul Burch began performing downtown in the vacant honky tonks, once home to Music City's heady nightlife; often there were more ghosts on the barstools than appreciative customers. Now the area resembles a Sigma Chi mixer bull riding and cowboy hats. Hank Williams is STILL searching...
Anyway,
Forming the WPA Ballclub, Burch took up a year-long residency at the famed Tootsie's Orchid Lounge (behind the Ryman Auditorium and the informal "green room" to the Opry.) The band's marathon shows quickly attracted a following and provided a much needed bromide to the other goings on over at Music Row. Here talent was measured not my millions of units shilled but by dollar bills crammed into the tip jar or taped to the stage.
Paul Burch's works are those of thoughtful eloquence and spirited storytelling. He is, there's no other way to put it, a craftsman. His honey smooth voice is a national treasure, if only ya'll were paying attention. It is timeless and refreshing. Paul has recorded with everyone from R&B great Candi Staton, country legend Ralph Stanley, to southern raconteurs Vic Chesnutt and Ryan Adams and was a member of the Lambchop collective.
Paul has performed at the Kennedy Center with the WPA, and contributed to albums by Bobby Bare Jr., Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Josh Rouse, Richard Bennett, Mark Knopfler, Exene Cervenka, Ray Price and Jenny Toomey.
- "Little Glass of Wine" w/ Ralph Stanley on For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
- "Your Red Wagon" on Nashville: The Other Side of the Alley
- "Life Of A Fool" live video and "Bad Girl She Used To Be" video on the DVD Bloodied But Unbowed
- "Life Of A Fool" live performance on Bloodied But Unbowed: The Soundtrack
- "Walls of Time" on the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' The Executioner's Last Songs: Volume 1