The Thorns

The Thorns was a reverse side project of sorts for its principals, Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge, and Shawn Mullins. All three singer/songwriters had made their names as solo artists, so to suddenly become a band took a bit of work. Even so, the musicians' batch of shared influences -- Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Simon & Garfunkel -- suggested that the union might work, even if they hadn't worked together before. Summer 2002 found the trio writing up material; by autumn they'd gelled, and started laying it down in an Atlanta studio with longtime producing pal Brendan ...