ABOUT RUTHIE: “Ruthie Foster has established herself as a down-home diva whose assurance and authority have put her on a certain path to stardom.” - Blurt

Following the path to critical acclaim and artistic triumph blazed by her Grammy-nominated 2009 CD The Truth According To Ruthie Foster, Ruthie’s new CD was recorded at the legendary Piety Studios in New Orleans. Let It Burn is a dark, smoky mix of sparsely-crafted originals accompanied by haunting interpretations of an unexpected collection of covers ranging from Adele to Los Lobos, and from The Black Keys to Johnny Cash. Recorded in the voodoo shadows of New Orleans with a small group of A-list musicians led by the Meter’s own George Porter, Ruthie provides her most personal visit yet with her deeply soulful vocals, supported at times by special guests Stax legend William Bell and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Winner of the 2010 Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year and the 2010 Living Blues Music Award Critic’s Poll for Female Blues Artist of the Year, Ruthie was also named “Best Female Vocalist” at the 2008 Austin Music Awards. She’s been featured on the PBS syndicated show Austin City Limits and NPR’s All Things Considered, and has made impact appearances at the world’s most prestigious festivals and in collaborations with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Warren Haynes, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Derek Trucks.

Click here to visit Ruthie’s website.

ABOUT PAUL: Paul Thorn’s “gruff voice has gotten him compared to Springsteen and Tom Waits. But when he sits down to write, he’s more like John Prine.” - Newark Star Ledger

Paul Thorn’s life story is a fascinating one - born in Elvis’ birthplace, son of a Pentecostal preacher, boxed former world champ Roberto Duran on national TV, worked in a furniture factory, jumped out of airplanes - but with his new album, Pimps & Preachers, Thorn delves into perhaps the most interesting part of his strange-but-true story. The record charted in Billboard’s Top 100 and was #1 on the Americana radio charts for 3 solid weeks (beating out albums by John Prine, John Mellencamp, and Alejandro Escovedo). Paul has toured with everyone from Huey Lewis & The News to Sting, Mark Knopfler to Bonnie Raitt.

Ruthie Foster and Paul Thorn now bring their joint musical endeavor to a wider audience, beyond geographic and musical frontiers.

Click here for tour dates.

Your tickets will be honored for the rescheduled shows, or you can contact the promoter to be refunded if unable to attend on the new dates. Remember, we will keep you posted on any updates as we receive them. We are very sorry for the inconvenience, and we really appreciate your understanding.

The link between us and the internet for this show was All Access Live. They have taken responsibility for the delivery problems and will make refunds to anyone who couldn’t see the show. If you had trouble viewing the feed, please contact admin(at)vuwme.com.

The archived video of the show will be posted in the next day or so and you will be able to watch it at your convenience. All Access Live will email you when the archive is up and ready to go.

Paul has put in a couple of long days prepping for this event and is beat. He wants to talk to you all via Facebook on Monday, but tonight he wants to catch his breath and spend this Sunday evening with his wife and kids.

Again, please accept our apologies.

Billy and the guys

I say that if you want to have a Kojak beaver it’s fine with me, but i would like to suggest that you DO NOT put the procedure on national television. Also, if you want a man with eternal rock hard abs and perpetual thick hair you will probably have to replace him every 10 years. Even fitness guru Jack Lalanne, who ate healthy and drank from his juicer every day, now has a sagging midsection. I am concerned about how a lot of today’s mainstream pop culture “entertainment” (whether it be television or Top 40 radio) is leading a generation of impressionable youngsters toward a mental highway that will guide them down a soulless path, transforming them into being mentally and spiritually bankrupt people who won’t know the nutritional difference between a Yoo Hoo chocolate drink and a cold glass of whole milk. I actually recently heard a young person say (and I quote), “Billy Graham is cool but he aint no Tommy Lee.”

As bleak as the future seems, I believe that there is still hope. I know that I can’t change the world, but I can continue to try and make a positive connection with all of you wonderful people who continue to come out to our shows and support what we do. I know in my heart that there is a certain group of humans out there who are hungry to connect with something that is not mean-spirited and will give them some much needed food for the soul. Every time we get together I get such a feeling of joy. I love you guys. I am with you for life, and I hope you are with me too. Thank you so much for all you do. I will see you at the next show. Bring a friend so more folks can experience the great connection we have. I hope to see you soon.

If you see the Kardashian girls, tell them that they are invited too. But they are gonna have to ACT RIGHT or they will be asked to leave.

On a lighter note, John and I were talking about things we like to do other than music and it turns out that we both have an affection for comic books and cartoons from our childhood. Some of his favorites are The Archies and Clutch Cargo while I prefer The Herculoids and the original Land of the Lost.

Paul

Huey and the band have been friends of ours for some time now, and ever since we played our first show with them it has been glaringly obvious what a tight, punchy, smoking band they are. But the thing that struck me back in January as we recorded the Soulsville tracks was that these guys, to a man, are real students, historians, and caretakers of great American music. I have worked as a musician in Tennessee, Georgia, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama all of my life, and they knew much more about the Memphis/Macon/Muscle Shoals soul scene of the 60s and 70s than I did. Additionally, Huey & The News have been in the biz a long time and I expected them to be at least somewhat jaded, but there was no been there/done it attitude to be found anywhere. The excitement as we worked up and recorded these tunes was contagious, the fun factor was high, and I felt like a kid again working up cool soul songs to hit the frat party circuit with a new band. But these guys are no kids - they are world class, grown-assed men playing the hell out of their instruments, and working with them was nothing but a bonafide pleasure.

The American release date for Soulsville is November 2nd. All the relevant links are below if you want to check it out…

Cheers!

Bill Hinds, PTB guitar player

All the relevant links…

Discussing Soulsville and music videos (YouTube)

Huey Lewis & The News Facebook page

HueyLewis.com

Preview Soulsville for free! (requires Facebook login)

Buy Soulsville at Amazon.com

Download Soulsville on iTunes

Like Paul has mentioned at the shows, I’m originally from Portland, Oregon and I spent my early musical years performing in various bands throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 1986, I moved to Los Angeles and spent most of my time there writing and pursuing that elusive record deal with a couple of original projects. The deal didn’t come, but I hit the jackpot when I met Ann Marie (Annie), a singer who had moved from Albuquerque to pursue her dream.

Then, one rainy February night in ‘93 as we watched my beloved 1985 white-with-rust-red-interior Honda Civic Wagon drive off with neither of us behind the wheel, we decided it was time for a change. Later that year we were married and heading for Tennessee to begin a new adventure.

Since living in Nashville, I have had the pleasure of working with wonderful artists such as Keith Anderson, JoDee Messina, Suzy Bogguss, and Collin Raye, to name a few. I also continue to write and play in a rock trio called the Mad Hatter Band in my spare time.

I feel very blessed and thankful to be able to make music with so many cool people including this great group of guys I’m working with now. Paul, Billy, Jeffrey, Michael, Bill, and you, the PTB fans around the country, have been so warm and welcoming to me and I can’t thank you enough. I look forward to many years of being a part of the PTB Nation.

Thanks for all your support,

Ralph Friedrichsen

Around the age of 12 me and my dad were sitting at our kitchen table when the phone rang. He answered it and immediately had to sit down. It was my long lost Uncle Merle. The family had not heard from him in 10 years and we all thought he was probably dead. As it turned out, he was alive and well. He told my dad that he had been living out in California and wanted to come home and reconnect with his family. They were all excited to see him return and I was anxious to meet the uncle I had no memory of. When we picked him up at the airport he was unlike anyone I had ever seen. His clothes were very stylish and when he spoke, his words sounded like poetry. The cadence of his speech was strangely similar to my father’s when he was behind the pulpit, but slightly more raw and flamboyant.

As time passed by, me and my Uncle Merle became very close, and with that closeness he began to tell me about his past life. He informed me that during the time he was away he had made his living as a pimp. He explained to me in graphic detail the ins and outs of the street life. He showed me that there was a broader world out there  beyond the small one I had grown up in. He exposed me to what life was like on the wrong side of the tracks by secretly taking me there countless times to experience it for myself. The song Pimps and Preachers is a sincere tribute to my father and my uncle. The time I spent with them has given me a certain set of social and coping skills that have served me well in life.

Oh, and by the way, these self proclaimed “hip hop pimps” that you see on television surrounded by bitches and bling bear no resemblance to what a real player is. Most of them have no game at all. They are merely wealthy and have zero chops or real ability to get inside a persons mind. If not for their money and fame no decent female would give them the time of day. They would be laughed at for not knowing how to pull their pants up. My dad and my uncle could walk into any room with no money in their pockets and leave with a congregation of believers or a stable full of fresh turn-out.