Ready to jam

Playing for a crowd familiar with your music is like keeping a relationship fresh, according to Paul Thorn.

"It's a little more challenging because it's kind of like being married," said the musician. "Your wife's heard all your jokes, that kind of thing. It's a familiarity you hope doesn't breed contempt."

The Paul Thorn Band is one of many acts scheduled for Big Spring Jam in Huntsville that has Alabama connections. Thorn's Shoals fans know him well from local gigs. They also could probably sing along with several other performers including Alabama frontman Randy Owen and Athens' Bradley Walker. Birmingham band Teen Getaway also performs.

Big Spring Jam, one of Alabama's largest music festivals, takes place Friday through Sunday in Huntsville's Big Spring Park. In its 16th year, the festival donates much of its proceeds to charities and scholarships.

Fans can watch Owen on Friday, night, Teen Getaway on Saturday afternoon, Walker and The Paul Thorn Band on Sunday.

A Tupelo native, Thorn performs throughout the Southeast. To keep his devoted audience attentive, he strives to take his singing a step further.

"I don't just sing songs," he said. "I talk. I let people know what's going on in my life ... I just try to keep it interesting. I don't want to just be a singer, I want to be an entertainer." The Paul Thorn Band biography on paulthorn.com describes its sound as taking strains from "blues, country, gospel and rock 'n' roll."

Familiarity often breeds comfort, but that doesn't equal relaxed sets for Walker's home audiences either.

"For me, it puts a little more pressure on," Walker said. "You always want to do your best, but for the home crowd you always want to put on a good show."

The bluegrass performer works a day job at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens. His tour includes few shows in north Alabama, so he wants to stand out, especially from big names in the lineup.

"I want to put on a great show to where when they leave for the night, I want them to be talking about me just as much as everybody else," he said.

At last year's Big Spring Jam, Walker sang the national anthem. "I was tickled to get asked to come back this year," he said.

This is Teen Getaway's first appearance at Big Spring Jam. Jim Fahy, guitarist and vocalist, describes the Birmingham-based band as "bubble-gum skrunk."

"A lot of our songs are generally poppy songs," he said. "But we like to play with more noisy and discordant aspects as well." The band generally sticks with intimate venues in the Southeast.

"Music is a physical thing, and to move with it and to get people to move with you is great," Fahy said. But, "on a big stage you're a little bit disconnected." To compensate, the band stays close to each other while performing. And they also play loud.

"Bring some ear plugs, or not," Fahy said.

He and Thorn look forward to meeing 1980s pop band Huey Lewis and the News at the music festival. Thorn has toured with the band, and Fahy was a fan as a child.

"They were the first band I wrote a fan letter to," Fahy said. "Instead of getting an autograph, I got subscribed to a crappy newsletter. I'm hoping there will be some retribution and that I can get that autograph."

Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.