The 2016 Savannah Music Festival lineup will be announced on Wednesday, November 4th during an event at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum’s North Garden, also going live online at 7pm at savannahmusicfestival.org. This annual kickoff concert features Mississippi roots rock songwriter Paul Thorn with his band. The concert is free and open to the public, with 6:30 doors and a 7:30 pm showtime. Tickets are not required, and cash bar service will be offered by the venue.

Following rave reviews of his 2015 acoustic performance with Joe Ely and Ruthie Foster, professional boxer turned songwriter Paul Thorn returns with his full band. Throughout their two decades of touring in club, theater and festival settings, his quintet has earned a reputation for shows and material that ricochet from comedic underpinnings to straightforward truth telling to knock-out rock n’ roll. Guitarist Bill Hinds is the perfect, edgy foil for Thorn’s warm, laconic salt of the earth delivery – a veritable living library of glowing tones, sultry slide and sonic invention. Keyboardist Michael “Dr. Love” Graham displays a gift for melody that reinforces Thorn’s hooks while creating his own impact, and helps expand the group’s rhythmic force. Drummer Jeffrey Perkins and bassist Ralph Friedrichsen are a force, propelling every tune with just the right amount of up-tempo power or deep-in-the-groove restraint. “These guys really bring my songs to life,” says Thorn. “A lot of albums sound like they’re made by a singer with bored studio musicians. My albums sound they’re played by a real blood-and-guts band because that’s what we are. And when we get up on stage, people hear and see that.”

The 2016 Savannah Music Festival runs from March 24 through April 9. Festival tickets go on sale at 10 am Eastern on November 5th at the Savannah Box Office at 216 E. Broughton Street, online at www.savannahmusicfestival.org and by phone at 912.525.5050.