Lunch of Champions

Paul Christian | Never Been Lonely

Paul Christian | “Misty Morning”

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 that Paul Christian cites as influences, Roy Orbison and Chris Isaak, also have memorable poofs on the tops of their heads. Unfortunately for us rock fashionistas, the same cannot be said of Christian. His long-hair-in-a-pony-tail look bears a closer resemblance to Steven Seagal than to Bret Michaels. Fortunately for us, though, we may look past his hair misgivings, because his music is pretty damn good.

(Above: Steven Seagal and Paul Christian)

“Never Been Lonely” was inspired by Chris Isaak and Roy Orbison type protaganists that 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 that they often lead to twists and turns that are the 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 does a 360 and turns around and decides to try and work things out. It is unclear whether or not the guy will ultimately be happy with the girl, but it is this hope that things might work out in the end that draws me into Christian’s songs.

Additionally, there is some mighty fine pedal steel guitar work in addition to some solid piano parts featured on the album. All in all, Christian has created an album that I can listen to on Friday evenings when I’m kicking back with a beer after a hard week of work.