Paul Cauthen, Leah Blevins

From the venue:

aking Room 41 nearly killed Paul Cauthen. Ironically enough, it’s also the very thing that saved him.
“Finishing this record was one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever been a part of,” reflects Cauthen, the
larger-than-life Texas troubadour nicknamed Big Velvet for his impossibly smooth, baritone voice. “I’m
honestly glad it’s done because I don’t think I’d survive if I had to do it all over again. No way.”
Written during a roughly two-year stint spent living out of a suitcase in Dallas’ Belmont Hotel, Room 41
chronicles Cauthen’s white-knuckle journey to the brink and back, a harrowing experience that landed him in
and out of the hospital as he careened between ecstasy and misery more times than he could count. Cauthen
has long been a pusher of boundaries (musical and otherwise), and Room 41 is no exception, with electrifying
performances that blend old-school country and gritty soul with 70’s funk and stirring gospel. His lyrics take
on biblical proportions as they tackle lust and envy, pride and despair, destruction and redemption, but these
songs are no parables.
Cauthen lived every single line of this record, and he’s survived to tell the tale.
“I’ve always been the kind of artist that can’t write something unless I feel it and I mean it.” says Cauthen,
“This record is as real as it gets for me. I am these songs.”
Cauthen first earned his reputation as a fire-breathing truth-teller with the acclaimed roots rock band Sons
of Fathers, but it wasn’t until the 2016 release of his solo debut, My Gospel, that he truly tapped into the full
depth of his prodigious talents. Vice Noisey dubbed it “a somber reminder of how lucky we are to be alive,”
while Texas Monthly raved that Cauthen “sound[[[s] like the Highwaymen all rolled into one: he’s got Willie’s
phrasing, Johnny’s haggard quiver, Kristofferson’s knack for storytelling, and Waylon’s baritone.” The album
landed on a slew of Best Of lists at the year’s end and earned festival appearances from Austin City Limits and
Pickathon to Stagecoach and Tumbleweed along with dates opening for Elle King, Margo Price, Midland, Cody
Jinks, Social Distortion and more. He followed it up two years later with Have Mercy, an album that prompted
Rolling Stone to dub him “one of the most fascinating, and eccentric, new voices in country music” and NPR’s
Ann Powers to proclaim 2019 as “the year of Paul Cauthen.”