You may know Paul as the fiddler for his latest project, Swingstein and Robin, a swing/jazz duo, or the Contrarians, on hiatus, formerly a contra dance band (with two highly praised CDs!), or in a previous lifetime, a member of Booger Hole Revival and Back Road Travelers, WV string bands that played mostly regionally and recorded two vinyl LP's in the '70s and '80s. He started writing songs and fiddle tunes back then and never stopped. In 1992 he recorded a cassette, now available as CD, of children's songs, most of which he wrote, called School Bus Comin' . Then, in the later 90's came the CD Lessons Life's Taught Me. That was co-produced by Ron Sowell, music director of WV Public Radio's Mountain Stage, and is backed up tastefully by members of the Mountain Stage Band including Ron Sowell, Steve Hill, John Kessler, Ahmed Solomon, and Julie Adams, as well as friends Nancy Buckingham, and Bill and Becky Kimmons of Bare Bones who added their considerable talents.
Since then he has recorded a CD of original fiddle tunes, Strawberry Lass, and continues to write new songs some of which can be heard on his YouTube channel. The Wild Ones, with the strawberry lass, Rita Ray, on piano, and Paula Bickham on hand drums and accordion still play together from time to time. "I've done many things in life--logging, social work, teaching school (I retired in 2012), presenting writing workshops, but music is something I must always be creating and enjoying. I hope you will enjoy it, too." |