Paul Tobin is a Canadian singer/songwriter who has spent a lifetime writing music. His songs reflect his life, and musical influences.
"PT: My major influences are many. One of my first — and I know this is cliché — but I have to say Johnny Cash, simply because of that album cover, Walk the Line, with him all in black walking down the railway track. I was about six years old at the time. He looked dangerous, and he was going somewhere. I wanted to know where. Later on, Bruce Cockburn was a knockout punch for me. As an acoustic player he opened a lot of doors previously locked, and as a writer, he made me realize that you could write an honest song and not really worry about putting less than four words in a line. He definitely showed little respect for the radio format, and I thought that was a valuable lesson. Later on in my musical journey I found a lot of comfort in artists like BB King, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson, Big Dave McLean — who was a massive influence — Bob Marley, J.J. Cale, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett and many unknown players that I've had the pleasure of playing with, or just listening to, over the years."