Hailing from Nashville, Paul Childers is trying to challenge everything you thought you knew about the future of music. Refusing to be ghettoized, Paul finds a way to blur the lines cast between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix styles of guitar playing, a Motown rhythm section, and Pop vocal melodies.

What really impresses is the lack of insurance during a performance. Between a guitar, bass, piano, and drum set, there is nothing for the musicians to hide behind. No pre-recorded, software instruments or background vocals; still the sound is massive. The tone and tenacity is in the hands and the hearts of the players. Whether it’s a small club in a town of 10,000 on a slow Tuesday or a sold-out crowd of 4,000 at ASU’s Gammage Theater, every one gets the same show. A sense of intimacy it brought to the stage. This could be in part to Paul’s approach to songwriting, which is also quite refreshing. It’s as though the journal of the young man singing becomes the script. It’s honest, it’s clever, and at times, heartbreaking. Still, it’s not reserved for a 20 year-old learning how to live and love in the 21st century. The maturity shown in the subject matter and motifs relate to anyone who has ever known what it’s like to have and have-not.

Describing Paul Childers isn’t easy. It’s something you have to see for yourself. The look is sleek and the music is even sleeker.