Paul Lee Kupfer is from a lot of different places—a West Virginia native, he lived in Pennsylvania, California, and Montana before settling in Knoxville. When he’s not on the road as a solo singer-songwriter, Kupfer is one-third of the Bus Driver Tour, with fellow country-folkies Ian Thomas and Danny Freund. (Thomas is also based in Knoxville; Freund lives in Montana.) It’s an itinerant life for an itinerant musician.
Somewhere along the way, though, Kupfer managed to stay in one place long enough to record Where the Wind Goes, his debut solo album. It’s a collection of unreconstructed folk in the style of early Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Arlo Guthrie, recorded at Wild Chorus Studio here in Knoxville with Jamie Cook, Robert Richards, Evie Andrus, and Josh Oliver. The songs range from quiet melancholy (“Highway to the Coast”) to shuffling blues (“Riverbank Blues”) and vibrant, fiddle-fueled road anthems (“Where the Wind Goes”).
The first copies of the CD were available in September, at Kupfer’s performance at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion music festival, but Kupfer has kept it under wraps since then. You can buy a copy at an upcoming show (there’s nothing scheduled, but he never takes too long between local shows) or paulleekupfer.bandcamp.com.
Senior Editor Matthew Everett manages the Knoxville Mercury's arts & entertainment section, including the comprehensive calendar section—Knoxville’s go-to guide for everything worth doing in the area. You can reach Matthew at matthew@knoxmercury.com.
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