Tall Paul's Reviews

• Paul Leslie reviews "Fast Beneath My Feet"
• Rebecca Simmons reviews Tall Paul's performances and career

Fast Beneath My Feet

Reviews

Paul Leslie, Editor - TropicalPleasuresMagazine.com

Where can you hear guitar, hammered papoose, udu drum, didgeridoo, bass, drums, tambourine, klang yaw, mandolins, bozouki, gut string guitars, fiddle, slide mandolin, dobro, cellos, banjo, keyboards, accordion and slide guitar all on one phenomenal album? On Nashville, Tennessee’s most diversified entertainer and musician: Tall Paul.

Tall Paul Bobal may be known in the world of tropical music as having done quite a few Parrot Head parties and bar events. Why is he called Tall Paul? It takes one glance to see why, especially when elevated on a stage. You soon forget his generous height once he starts playing. His concerts are notoriously entertaining and have great crowd interaction.

Although he sometimes plays island-type songs, his own music is heavily influenced by classic rock. He is best known in the world of tropical rock as being an early member of St. Somewhere. St. Somewhere will be the feature cover story for the next issue.
Tall Paul’s latest album is a diverse selection of songs, Covers and originals that have appeal for people with all musical tastes.

High Wire, is the song of inspiration. Tall Paul makes comparisons between the journey of life and walking on wire.
Last Train to Kitty Hawk, is a story song about Kitty Hawk, NC where man first learned to fly.

Crazy Love, is a wonderful Van Morrison cover. Tall Paul chose this song because of itís lyrics and describes it as the most sensuous of Morrison’s songs.

Left Behind is a song with lyrics written by Scott Sokoloski. It is about losing your father. Many people who lost close ones on September 11, 2001 have said they were touched by this song. This song may make you cry. I did.
Driftin’ was originally recorded as a fast soca tune with Quincy Yeates playing steel drums on the St. Somewhere album, Wave Your Flag. Yeates and Tall Paul wrote the song together. Everyone has had a part of their life when they were drifting in their confusion...

Get this album!

Tall Paul `Unplugged before unplugged was cool'

By Rebecca Simmons, News-Sentinel staff writer

Preaching ''the gospel of popular music,'' Tall Paul has been a college tradition for more than a decade.

The 6-foot-8-inch singer/songwriter got his start playing on Thursday nights in a Nashville ''cinder-block beer bar'' next to Vanderbilt University.

''I think they only served beer -- you couldn't even get a glass of water. It was just fun -- 200 or 300 people shoulder-to-shoulder -- you couldn't do any damage, and you didn't have to worry about what you wore. I had shoes I wore just to that place,'' says Tall Paul, aka Paul Bobal.

Students from Nashville, out for summer break from other schools, would hear him and say, ''Hey, I go to school at Tech or UT'' and ask him to come play there. He handed out business cards and began playing fraternity parties and college bars from Memphis to Western Carolina.

In Knoxville Tall Paul became a regular Monday night event at The Library, a gathering place on the Cumberland Avenue Strip.

At the peak of his popularity, capacity crowds packed The Library to hear him perform his versions of such favorites as ''Hang On Sloopy,'' ''American Pie'' and ''Brown Eyed Girl.''

Paul mixed those favorites with his original tunes, and fans crowded the stage to lip-sync every song. They even had their own hand motions, imitating each lyric.

''I miss The Library,'' he says. ''There's no place quite like it.''

His devoted fans later followed him next-door to the Neyland Sports Grill (now Best Italian Cafe & Pizzaria). Now they catch his regular 10 p.m. Monday gig on the opposite side of The Strip at O'Charley's Sports bar & Grill.

Tall Paul fans who have graduated from The Strip still flock to hear him perform at 9 p.m. Sundays at Darryl's Restaurant & Bar on Bearden Hill.

Just as seniors graduate each year, a new crop of Tall Paul fans arrives on campus every fall. Historically, he says, Knoxville has been his most consistent fan base.

''The people who run orientation (at UT) tell new students -- this is where you need to go,'' says Paul, laughingly, in an interview at a sparse west Knoxville apartment. Although he makes his home in Nashville, he stays over two nights a week in the Knoxville apartment, which is shared with a roommate.

Tall Paul is dressed casually -- just as he performs -- in shorts and a Cleveland Indians baseball jersey. He wears shorts even in the dead of winter.

Tall Paul becomes so important to some students that they ask him to play at their weddings. He says it's hard to turn down people who say, ''You've meant so much to us -- we came to see you on our first date.''

''Sharing something that special with them is a compliment and an honor,'' he says.

It's another big compliment, he says, to have his fans know the words to his original songs and sing along with him when he plays their requests.

''I've played a lot of covers, breaking my songs in when I thought they weren't paying attention.''

True fans recognize his originals, like the upbeat ''Won't Be Lonely'' and the acoustic ballad ''Part of Me'' on his compact disc ''Can't Find My Way.'' All the songs on the 1996 release are written and performed by Paul Bobal. The CD is availaable locally at the Disc Exchange stores.

''I write this weird in-between thing,'' he says of his style, which isn't country but isn't traditional rock, either. ''Acoustic rock'' is how Paul describes the music he performs. On stage, he's likely to play anything from Lyle Lovett or Jimmy Buffett to Counting Crows or Gin Blossoms.

Basically, he says, ''I was unplugged before unplugged was cool.''

Paul says he was turned on the acoustic guitar while a student at Appalachian State University.

Renowned musician Doc Watson, of Deep Gap, N.C., ''opened my eyes to the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument,'' says Paul. He met the famous guitarist, whom he calls ''the Jimmy Page of the bluegrass set'' because he and Watson's son, Merle, were college acquaintances.

Until then, Paul says, ''I thought you just strummed the guitar.''

But, Watson's ''expressive bluegrass and folk music'' introduced him to the flat-pick as a solo style.

Paul says it was like a light-bulb went off in his head. Suddenly, the gangly music education and performance major from Virginia Beach, Va., had found his calling.

''I was a maniac. I would spend my days on campus, then go home to my room and . . . play until my roommate said, 'Shut up. I'm going to bed,' '' he says.

Paul says he wore out a lot of cassette tapes, listening to and learning different guitarists' styles. He absorbed everything he could about acoustic guitar and American folk music.

''I discovered who Merle Haggard was, and George Jones,'' he says. ''James Taylor knocked me out on the guitar.''

Artists who have influenced his music are nothing if not diverse. He loves the Temptations, the Beatles, Daryl Hall and Led Zeppelin. He's also a big fan of Black Mountain, N.C., folk singer/songwriter David Wilcox, Jimmy Buffett and Little Feat, a late '70s funk/rock band. He performs some of their songs and takes pride in introducing the music of the late '70s and '80s to his younger fans.

One song Paul is particularly proud of is his version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' a huge Dire Straits hit originally recorded by that group on their 1980 album ''Making Movies'' and included on three subsequent Straits albums. (An alternative version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' has been recorded by the Indigo Girls.)

Paul's soulful rendition of the song has earned him praise from his fans. He says they often tell him, ''We like your version better,'' and he's thought about recording the song himself.

With a hint of pride in his voice, he says, ''I introduced that song to a lot of people.''

He admits there is a negative bias about ''cover tunes'' among some music fans.

''It's frustrating for me,'' he says. ''It doesn't hurt an artist to record someone else's music. I'm doing a mix of my music and other people's material.''

Paul says his lasting appeal has a two-fold base. One, he plays ''real, universal music'' and two, he says, is ''personality.''

''You see a lot of people that perform build this shield around themselves. They aren't concerned with public interaction. I walk through the crowd and say, 'Hey, I missed you last week,' or 'I haven't seen you in awhile.' ''

If Paul knows someone from the audience has a good voice and a favorite song, he often calls him or her on stage to sing. And he's been known to lead mini UT pep rallies on Monday nights before a football game the next weekend.

''I really do like what I do -- and how many people can say that?''

But don't misunderstand, he says. ''To have an album on the charts would be nice. It's not as if I haven't thought about it.''

Paul isn't really sure what the secret to success is; after all, he notes, ''Hootie & the Blowfish played the same circuit I play for years.

''I wish there was a minor league for musicians. You could get a good batting average, then go on to the majors.''

Now in his ''mid- to late 30s'' Paul performs at The Beer Seller in Nashville and has performed with name artists at the Bluebird Cafe's writers' nights, where many singers and songwriters get their start.

When he isn't on the road, he's at home with his bride, Kristie, a UT graduate. The two were married recently at a castle in Ireland.

''She definitely inspires me to write music. She believes in me -- which is nice.''

He keeps a hectic schedule, traveling in a given week to performances in Nashville, Knoxville, Johnson City, Cookeville or Murfreesboro.

''I may work eight or nine days in a row and think, 'Why have I done this to myself?' But after a few days of rest, I still realize this is a great way to make a living, and it's easy to go on stage and be Tall Paul again.''