Painted Saints

Painted Saints hail from Denver, Colorado and subscribe themselves to a spaghetti western/gypsy/chamber country/sad bastard school of music.

They write tin can and twine romances in a color of rust with backdrops of long wind swept open roads framed by tangled barbed wire and naked telephone poles. Their songs are of ashtray broken hearts and lansdscapes of beauty and sorrow borrowing harmonies from old eastern europe, the desert southwest and the sentiments of working class rust belt americana.

Paul Fonfara is the brains behind the operation. He plays guitars, clarinet, bandoneon squeezebox, viola, a fair share of whistling all aided by fancy looping pedals and he even sings.

After growing up in the wilds of Wellington Colorado, Paul went to the University of Colorado to get degrees in music and philosophy (aka the unemployment special) and then decided to play many instruments and make a career out of being a touring instrumentalist with folks like Jim White, Woven Hand (16 horsepower), Devotchka, Denver Gentlemen and Reverend Glasseye.

Over the last few years, Paul has had the pleasure of playing a former nazi bomb factory in Hamburg, an 18th century canon factory/hippie commune in Copenhagen, a hockey arena in Belgium, New York's Central Park Summerstage, a bar in Montana guaranteed to have at least one convicted murderer in attendance at any given time and Royal Albert Hall along with live broadcasts on Swedish National Radio and NPR's world cafe. After shaking hands with lots of namedroppable folks, Paul decided to sing his own songs.