Backlife

 

For three decades, Paul Burch's thoroughly modern yet instantly classic songs have attracted fans from Rock to Bluegrass. His new Lp Cry Love, produced with Dennis Crouch (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ringo Starr) and Fats Kaplin (Mitski, John Prine) features PB's longtime band The WPA Ballclub.

PB's debut novel, Meridian Rising (University of Georgia Press, 2025), was inspired by the life of American music legend Jimmie Rodgers and deftly blends fact and fiction to create a vibrant tale worthy of the Mississippi-born entertainer Howling Wolf called “my man that I really dug.”  Music critic Greil Marcus calls Meridian Rising a “a book of wonders.”  And noted biographer Paul Hendrickson says: "Paul Burch has made up the truth of Jimmie Rodgers's life better than any mere "facts" could ever convey—even though you'd have to be in possession of a million biographical facts to pull off this kind of vernacular Huck Finn sleight-of-hand prose magic."  Foreword Reviews has nominated Meridian Rising as their Literary Book of the Year. 

PBs discography includes artists from across styles and generations including Mark Knopfler, the Waco Brothers, Billy Bragg, R&B legend Candi Staton, Lambchop, and Ralph Stanley. "At the risk of being impeached by the bluegrass purists,” wrote celebrated music critic Chet Flippo, “I think Burch is the best duet partner Ralph Stanley has found since his brother, Carter Stanley.” In addition, Burch's Nashville studio has served as a workshop for artists like Tim O'Brien, Garry Tallent (Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band), Luther Dickinson, Robyn Hitchcock, and the late David Berman (Silver Jews), 

 
Billboard called Burch's 1996 debut Pan American Flash, “extraordinary … establishing Burch as a leader in marrying country’s roots tradition with a modern sensibility".  His contribution to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign led to a White House performance with Chuck D and Doug E. Fresh. Pop Matters called his musical memoir of Jimmie Rodgers Meridian Rising  "another welcome gem from one of the finest contemporary roots performers, not to mention one of the best damn songwriters, operating today." And PB's salute to Buddy Holly, Words of Love, found a fan in Holly’s widow, Maria Elena: “Paul has everything Buddy wanted to hear in an artist — his own style and his own sound.” 

Peter Guralnick, author of biographies of Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke wrote about watching the WPA Ballclub perform in Nashville.

I'm a Paul Burch fan.  How could I not be?  

How many other contemporary artists have forged a body of work of such cleverness and coherence, careful craftsmanship and white-hot heat, with all the zeal of the most dedicated student and all the passion of a true original? It’s different every night, but it never fails to achieve its purpose, what Sun Records founder Sam Phillips has deemed the unequivocal purpose of every kind of music: to lift up, to deepen, to intensify the spirit of audience and musicians alike.  Listen to the music. Every time it offers the possibility that this may be the best one yet.

Visit the Discography and read the stories behind all the albums.