You know who there aren’t enough of in America? Guys like Paul Thorn. Thorn plays a loud version of Americana, a bluesy, Southern Rock. His lyrics often illustrate stories about rough lives, hard times and rowdy women, making him a sort of funkier Johnny Cash.  

By way of historical context, Laurie Anderson's last studio album, 'Life on a String,' was released a month before 9/11, largely written and recorded in the earliest months of Bush Lite's first term. On her new album, 'Homeland,' she proves again to be an astute commentator on the state of America (and the world). Even better, Anderson hasn't lost one iota of musical passion and provides an invigorating soundtrack for her fascinating travelogue.   

If anyone ever makes a movie of Paul Thorn's life, they may have to leave out some of the details just to make it believable. Just after his birth in Wisconsin, his Pentecostal preacher father moved the family to Tupelo, Miss., famed birthplace of Elvis Presley.