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artist profiles... Paul Sprawl's style is his own, but if you really wanted him in a box you could call it Acoustic Blues. His voice is like the wind reaching out across the desert and his guitar is like crackling fire and riding bandits. His songs tell stories of politics, love and romance, the down trodden, and the interesting lives of those he meets all over the world. Paul delivers artistry and impressive playing with unusual guitar techniques. He has performed a ton all over the country (37 states regularly since 2000) and is building an audience in Europe. He is a big fish that has been recognized by some and missed by others in an American Idol obsessed country. He has a unique, creative and soulful approach to the guitar, to songwriting, and to finding an audience for his work. Who else grew a national audience by traveling around in a van going to open mics? Who else combines percussive guitar techniques with bottleneck, tapping, harmonica on a rack, and songs of the downtrodden and forgotten? Who else with a truckstop guide next to the driver's seat of his van has a college arts education and has put out six cds in seven years? Listen for yourself. With performances in 35 states in the USA and shows in Canada and Germany, Paul Sprawl has toured six to eight months a year since 2000, and he's back at it again. Since his 1999 cd, Blue Suitcase, produced by Lee Townsend (Bill Frisell, Kelly Joe Phelps) for the German label, Intuition, he's put out five more full~length cds on his own label, Vagabond Music. Paul Sprawl has developed a thing that everyone seems to agree is his own and unique. It involves poetry, storytelling, a baritone singing voice, and some unusual guitar techniques that you've just got to check out for yourself. Catch this vagabond troubadour as he traverses the dirt roads and interstate highways near you. More art than entertainment; this is creative work with life commitment - with influences like... Skip James, John Cage, Joni Mitchell, Harry Partch, Michael Hedges, Chris Whitley, Ed Harkins, Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, William Gibson, Noam Chomsky, David Byrne, Laura Nyro, Pepe and Celin Romero, Charlie Haden, his brother's bands, Nature, travels, jazz & rock bands, poets, and lots of strangers who wanted to talk. Growing up in Ventura, California, Paul began performing in public before his teenage years. After college he briefly made a living in his early twenties covering the songs of others in bars around Ventura, Ojai, and Santa Barbara. This ended shortly after a regional booking agent tried to talk him into becoming a full-fledged lounge act. He was instructed to be larger than life, get the audience to participate as much as possible, and remember that nobody wants to hear your music, so just play the hits. Realizing that being more of an artist than an entertainer wasn't pleasing the local bar managers, he knocked on doors and started his own window washing business to pay the rent. This freed him to focus on the music that he wanted to make. The path led to a Mediterranean island, back to college to study music, and to Santa Cruz in the 90's. In 1995 he moved into a van so he could spend more time on music; still going to work five days a week as an office temp in a coat and tie. He saved money quickly and worked his last temp job in the Fall of 97. Things worked out and he's been a full-time artist since then. In January of 1998 at a house concert in San Francisco, he was asked by producer Lee Townsend to make a record. Blue Suitcase, the product of that collaboration, was released in Germany in 1999 on Intuition Music. In 2000 Sprawl hit the road, touring around California. Eight months of playing every little coffeehouse and campground in the state convinced him to broaden his horizons. In 2001 he started traveling around the entire country, taking off for 4 or 5 months at a stretch. He continues to travel around the USA and Germany, doing shows all year. quotes... "We first ran into Paul at the National Folk Alliance conference two years ago, where he was performing to an enthralled audience in the elevator lobby. His highly percussive style is captivating, and his performance crosses the expanse from humorous to mesmerizing. Paul is a sort of American gypsy, taking to the road for long stretches, and packing in more performances than a presidential candidate during an election run. Last year, he demonstrated his skill in making music with almost anything, even a broken, out-of-tune banjo-mandolin that was hanging on the wall! This past year Paul has been touring and recording with the phenomenal harmonica player, Howard Levy." -Tim Piazza (Concerts at the Cabin promoter - Evansville, IN) "Paul Sprawl is a fine songwriter and very original guitarist whose music reflects his colorful experiences as a constantly traveling musician. He certainly deserves wider notoriety. The effort to seek out his work will be richly rewarded." -Lee Townsend (producer/manager) "Paul Sprawl's approach to guitar is beyond musicianship, it is performance art. His hands dance across the guitar with abandonment, from body to neck, drawing out rhythms and beats that fuse with mesmerizing harmonies. To compare him to another musician is to miss the mark completely. There is no one else like Paul." -Tim Piazza (Concerts at the Cabin promoter - Evansville, IN) "I really enjoyed working with Paul. I think he is a unique talent and I really dug his material. I thought we sounded really good together, and he can sure play guitar!" -Howard Levy (keyboardist, harmonica player, composer) "Okay. The album is called Blue Suitcase, and it's on a German label. It came out in '99 and it's wonderful. In terms of the playing, you can really get inside what he's doing, in terms of studying the moves. There's stuff that he does that nobody else does." -David Wilcox (singer/songwriter) "The kind of man who lands with a velvety thud on the stage and tears the house down with his originality, deep soulful voice, talented touch on the guitar and brazen fire bursting from his harmonica. I highly recommend seeing him live if he ever plays in your area of the world."  -Sultana Ali (singer) "The most amazing guitar player I have seen in 8 years" -Sam Pacetti (guitarist, singer/songwriter) "Paul has taken the blues and used them in a unique way to tell his own songs and stories. Slide guitar, lightning finger work with both hands up the neck, percussion on the body of the guitar, and a mellifluous voice that slides and bends his melodies the way his slide guitar finds the notes on his frets. He has three albums out - we were sold on him last year when he sent us a copy of Lucky Hand - a self-produced album with just Paul and his guitar, and no overdubs or fancy studio tricks." -Al Boyce (Old Kitchen Rug and Brewery House Concerts Promoter - Minneapolis, MN) "He is known for his guitar virtuosity - finger picking, percussion on his guitar and playing slide at full speed but it's his tunes that live with multiple rhythms that stop, drive, and bump but still pull you along. There is just enough structure to the songs to hold onto to without being bored and just enough flash to make your soul jump to keep up with the songs." -Ryan Dettra (Owner - Café Eleven, St. Augustine, FL) "Paul Sprawl is a masterful guitarist who plays with such expertise that if you close your eyes, you think you are listening to three musicians (guitar, bass and drums) instead of one. Although his playing is reminiscent of Michael Hedges, his style is clearly his own unique creation. His remarkable musicianship is complemented by a rich, soulful voice. He dazzled our audience." -Laurie Oudin (Owner - Main St. Café, Homestead, FL) some venues performed at... Double Mo                           Calgary, AB Arcosanti                             Mayer, AZ The Mad Linguist                  Prescott, AZ 7 Black Cats                        Tucson, AZ Genghis Cohen                     Hollywood, CA Highland Grounds                 Hollywood, CA The Iguana                           North Hollywood, CA Lestat's                                San Diego, CA Twiggs                                 San Diego, CA SoHo                                   Santa Barbara, CA The Kuumbwa                       Santa Cruz, CA Palookaville          Santa Cruz, CA Bazaar Café          San Francisco, CA Hotel Utah          San Francisco, CA Mo's Melody Mansion          San Francisco, CA Stella's          Denver, CO Sweet Rockin' Coffee         Denver, CO Nyland Co-Housing House Concert          Lafayette, CO Sweet Bean Café          Ft. Meyers, FL The Main St. Café          Homestead, FL The Bamboo Room          Lake Worth, FL Under the Oaks House Concert          Lutz, FL Guinevere's          Orlando, FL Leu Gardens          Orlando, FL Underground Bluz          Orlando, FL Café Eleven          St. Augustine, FL Twilight          Tampa, FL Eddie's Attic          Atlanta, GA The Red Light Café          Atlanta, GA Blues Fest 2003          Ingolstadt, Germany Boise River Festival 2001          Boise, ID Fitzgerald's           Chicago, IL Martyr's              Chicago, IL Uncommon Ground          Chicago, IL Concerts at the Cabin          Evansville, IN Checkpoint Charlie          New Orleans, LA Club Passim          Boston, MA Club Helsinki          Great Barrington, MA The Ark          Ann Arbor, MI Old Kitchen Rug/Brewery Concert          Minneapolis, MN Ginkgo Café          St. Paul, MN Blue Dragon Coffeehouse           Albuquerque, NM The Town Pump          Black Mountain, NC Six String Café          Cary, NC Neighborhood Theatre          Charlotte, NC The Evening Muse          Charlotte, NC Eno Commons House Concert          Durham, NC The Garage          Winston-Salem, NC The Hacienda          Reno, NV The Stephen Talkhouse          Long Island, NY The Omega Institute          Rhinebeck, NY Cain Park          Cleveland, OH Taffy's Main St. Café          Eaton, OH Wild Goose Café          Ashland, OR Laurelthirst Public House          Portland, OR The Quiet Storm          Pittsburgh, PA Boardwalk Café          Nashville, TN French Quarter          Nashville, TN The Log-on Café          Beaumont, TX The Old Quarter          Galveston, TX Anderson Fair          Houston, TX Mucky Duck          Houston, TX Fiesta Arts Festival          San Antonio, TX Baylee's          Blacksburg, VA Hannah's          Olympia, WA Cafe Carpe          Ft. Atkinson, WI The Purple Fiddle          Thomas, WV The Blue Moose          Morgantown, WV factoids... drove a truck for Jimmy Cliff in the USA and Canada studied music at UCSD and classical guitar with Pepe and Celin Romero studied music at Cal Arts with Charlie Haden and James Newton was a college radio DJ and assistant Music Director was born and mostly raised in California some people opened for... Dan Bern   (CA, MI) Bob Brozman & Ledyard Kaapana   (CA) Dana Cooper & Shake Russell   (TX) Paul Geremia   (NJ) John Hammond   (NY) Jennifer Nettles   (GA) Kelly Joe Phelps   (VA, NC, GA, FL) Willy Porter   (NC) David Wilcox   (CA, NV) discography... 1999 Blue Suitcase    Intuition Music 2001 Lucky Hand    Vagabond Music 2002 Dirt Roads    Vagabond Music 2003 Army of Dreamers    Vagabond Music 2004 Wreckage    Vagabond Music 2005 Howard Levy & Paul Sprawl    Vagabond Music & Balkan Samba Records

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