Hair is an important part of any musician's image.
The Beatles made waves with their free-flowing mop tops both during and after their meteoric rise to stardom. A large, black wig is required garb for Elvis impersonators worldwide.
Two of the musicians Paul Christian cites as influences, Roy Orbison and Chris Isaak, also have memorable poofs on top of their heads. Unfortunately for us rock fashionistas, the same can't be said of Christian. His long-hair-in-a-ponytail look bears a closer resemblance to Steven Seagal than to Bret Michaels. Fortunately for us, though, we can look past his hair misgivings, because his music is pretty darn good.
"Never Been Lonely" was inspired by Chris Isaak and Roy Orbison-type protagonists who always seem to get the short end of the stick, regardless of how many little fires of hope are burning in their hearts. It features Christian's signature, Orbison-esque crooning over some impressive guitar parts.
The lyrics on this album are sneaky in they often lead to twists and turns opposite of what you'd expect. For example, on "Misty Morning," the song's protagonist is sadly leaving a relationship, but in the end, he turns around and decides to try and work things out. It's unclear whether or not the guy will ultimately be happy with the girl, but it's this hope things might work out in the end that drew me into Christian's songs.
Additionally, there's some mighty fine pedal steel guitar work and some solid piano parts featured on the album. All in all, Christian has created an album I can listen to on Friday evenings when I'm kicking back with a beer after a hard week of work.
www.paulchristian.com |
