People will always yabber on incessantly about Delta blues and Chicago blues, and yet will often neglect Detroit blues. This is odd, because few cities have suffered, really and truly felt pain, like the Motor City. Remember when John Lee Hooker sang about how the Motor City's Burnin'? He wasn't posturing.
Paul Andrew Ulysses Lamb, as those initials represent, is following in the grand tradition of expressing life's tortuous events through his own blues-rock music. Born and raised on the streets of Harper Woods, an east side community in Detroit, Lamb's life was forever changed when his father bought him a Jimi Hendrix album as a birthday gift. Jimi's expressive vocal 
delivery and exquisite guitar playing planted a seed in Lamb's head that would, before too long, grow into a big old blues-rock rubber plant. The young Lamb would soon be soaking up the influences of the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bob Seger, Johnny Cash and Johnny Winter.
When he was done with the mundane trials of high school, Lamb caught a bus to Hollywood. La-La Land was getting much of the musical press at that period of time, so it was only natural that a man with his sights set on following in the footsteps of his musical heroes would set out to break the City of Angels. While in Los Angeles, Lamb would allow himself to be educated (and perhaps a little corrupted) by some of the West Coast's most notorious rockers. Having partaken in every excess that L.A. has to offer while at the same time honing his soulful rock voice and guitar skills, Lamb picked up his trusty axe and hit the road, a road upon which he made himself at home.
In the mid-nineties, P-A-U-L fronted the Glory Revival, an eight-piece Phoenix, Arizona band. Lamb wrote and produced all of the band's material, and they would soon get signed and record two albums in Lamb's hometown of Detroit. While the Glory Revival received rave reviews in the press, they wouldn't go on to hit the heights that many predicted. Still, they had a hell of a time trying, and Lamb received some more invaluable musical education.
While back in Detroit, P-A-U-L began playing regularly with the Ethan Daniel Davidson 5 and Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty's Grinder. Around that time, Lamb formed his own band, P-A-U-L & the Harper Woods Heroes, and 2007 saw the release of his debut solo album Hangin' On For Dear Life.
That album featured some of the Motor City's finest talent, including producer and drummer Eric Hoegemeyer (Gold Cash Gold, Crud, Giant Brain, Deep See Sound System), guitarist Phil Durr (Big Chief, Giant Brain, Luder) and Hammond organ man Charles 'the Professor' Weldon Hughes (the Ethan Daniel Davidson 5). The songs, including the pile-driving opener "You Pulled the Trigger", the hypnotic "Platinum Blonde Jesus" and the simply beautiful "Monique" were very obviously the results of P-A-U-L ripping his heart open and presenting it in a recording studio. The subsequent tours of the USA and Europe would help spread P-A-U-L's name across the globe, his touring band often including the talents of Detroit bass maestro Paul Randolph (George Clinton, Jazzanova).
P-A-U-L's sophomore release, Gunshot Lullaby saw the light of day in 2009. The record saw Lamb once again teaming up with partner in grime Eric Hoegemeyer to produce at Rustbelt Studios, with Rustbelt owner and legendary producer Al Sutton (Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker) providing the final mixes. The record was recorded live at Rustbelt, the band consisting of Lamb, Hoegemeyer, Paul Randolph and Charles Weldon Hughes.
Two years on from his debut release, Lamb has obviously learned a lot. Gunshot Lullaby manages to sound simultaneously more mature and yet still blessed with the energy of that kid that first stared at the Hendrix album cover in awe while soaking up the licks. In other words, somehow P-A-U-L's music is maturing without getting old.
The songs are as stunning as anything on Gunshot Lullaby's predecessor, which is no small complement. The title track couldn't be more perfectly titled; the song has the simple lyrical structure of a children's rhyme, and yet it aims straight for the heart and hits it's target. "Our Bullets Will Be Fairy Tales" is a straight-ahead, balls-out rocker, while "Detroit Is On Fire" is a respectful nod to homeboy John Lee Hooker.
The album that Classic Rock Magazine (UK) called "fresh, streetwise and exciting" captured exactly where Lamb was in his life that year, and it continued to expand his ever-blossoming fan base.
P-A-U-L and his band, which currently features Layla Hall on drums / backing vocals and Joey Spina on bass, spent the rest of 2009 supporting blues-rock legend Walter Trout in the UK and touring with Joanne Shaw Taylor. This summer, he's playing the legendary Glastonbury Festival in England, and he plans to hit the studio t record his third album later in the year.
No matter what the Chinese say, 2010 is the year of the Lamb.