Born and raised in rural Maryland and Virginia, Paul Burch enjoyed the music scene of 1970s Washington, D.C., with his family taking him to see such big names as Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and John Prine. An occasional member of Lambchop, the Nashville-based singer/songwriter made his solo debut in 1998 with Pan-American Flash. Wire to Wire followed later that same year, and Blue Notes was released in mid-2000. The following year, Last of My Kind, inspired by Tony Earley's novel Jim the Boy, arrived. He released the album East to West in 2006; recorded in British Grove Studios in London, as well as in Nashville, the record featured Mark Knopfler and Ralph Stanley.
In 2009, Burch the WPA Ballclub (Jim Gray, Fats Kaplin, Dennis Crouch, Jen Gunderman, and Marty Lynds) issued Still Your Man, an all-new collection of songs recorded in a converted warehouse on the outskirts of Nashville's Music Row. Released in 2011, the tribute album Words of Love: Songs of Buddy Holly was recorded live in the studio, employing a minimalist's arsenal of upright bass, drums, and guitar peppered with the occasional blast of saxophone and accordion. It was followed in 2012 by Great Chicago Fire, a collaboration with the Waco Brothers. In November 2013, Burch the WPA Ballclub released Fevers, a selection of tunes informed by rockabilly, hard country swing, and honky tonk. The album was co-produced by the artist with multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin, with guest vocalist Kelly Hogan lending a hand. In 2016, Burch released Meridian Rising, "an imagined musical autobiography" of the country legend Jimmie Rodgers. He neither followed the conventions of a traditional tribute album nor the contours of a biographical outing. Free of historical trappings, Burch dreamed up musical scenarios for Rodgers that didn't necessarily adhere to written history, and tipped a hat to Rodgers' jazz and blues contemporaries.
Three years later, Burch issued Light Sensitive. In addition to the erstwhile WPA Ballclub, his cast of collaborators included Robyn Hitchcock, Luther Dickinson, Amy Rigby, and Aaron Lee Tasjan. Its contents blurred boundaries between the roots genres of rockabilly, blues, balladry, and atmospheric sounds inspired by various geographic locales from the American South. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi