Paul Thorn, a Tupelo native and rock and roll musician, said his show in Starkville at Rick’s Café on Saturday will be a little hard to define.
“I’ve had the same band members for 20 years. It’s a tight band. We do a rock and roll show, I talk to the fans when I’m onstage and have a good time. It’s difficult to describe,” he said.
Thorn’s stop in Starkville is one of 175 dates he undertakes, on average, each year. Although reluctant to give any labels to his music or show, Thorn’s daughter, Kit Thorn, said she was willing to give it a shot.
“I’d say his music is kind of a mixture of everything. It’s a little country, rock, blues. It’s pretty loud and upbeat,” she said.
Thorn said he strives to perform to standards of a heyday past, interacting with the audience even outside of the songs he performs.
“I consider myself an entertainer in the old-school fashion. Dean Martin was a great entertainer and singer. He would sing songs but also talk to the fans between songs, tell jokes. He made everybody in the crowd feel like they were hanging out,” he said. “That’s what I shoot for.”
This inclusive informality extends even to family, as Thorn’s daughter, Kit Thorn, said she may join her father’s performance.
“When he does shows, I usually get up and sing a song or two with him,” she said.
The Starkville, university student clientele differs from Thorn’s usual crowd, which he said is middle-age and married people.
“My audience is for the most part married folks, middle-aged folks with mortgages and house payments, but when young people come I always like it. I certainly hope they will come out and enjoy the show,” he said.
Like his shows, Thorn, himself, is a bit hard to define; he said he was a boxer for a time in his life, going so far as to fight some world famous contenders.
“I got to fight Roberto Duran in 1988, and anybody who knows boxing knows he was probably in the top 10 greatest fighters who ever lived. I hung with him for six rounds,” he said. “There’s no shame in getting beat by a better man.”
Although Thorn boxed before beginning music as a profession, he said growing up with a pastor father resulted in his immersion in music from a young age.
“My dad is a Pentecostal preacher, so music was there before boxing. I was a fairly good boxer, but I didn’t have that extra something it took. But in music, I’m probably more where I belong,” he said.
The influence of Thorn’s father shows up on his most recent album of original material, Pimps and Preachers. The album’s title draws on two major forces in Thorn’s life as he matured, both his preacher father and pimp uncle.
According to Paste Magazine, the album exists in a place juxtaposed between these two concepts, two ways of living and how they shaped Thorn. 
Thorn’s show is Saturday, Feb. 16 at Rick’s Café, with special guest Bill Cook. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 9. Tickets are $20. Information about the show can be found at rickscafe.net.