Paul McDonald at Mercury Lounge

Born in Auburn, Alabama, and raised 200 miles away in Huntsville, Paul McDonald played high school varsity football and was in the school's play, The Wizard of Oz. Starting in 2005, he sang with Hightide Blues. In 2010, the band members moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and launched a campaign to let their fans choose a new name for the band. The band was renamed The Grand Magnolias and released a self-titled album. About the same time, McDonald competed in American Idol's 10th season, in which he placed eighth, and toured in the 2011 American Idols Live Tour. McDonald married actress Nikki Reed, the two recorded an album together. In 2015, after a divorce and the break-up of his former band, McDonald left his life in Los Angeles, California, and relocated to East Nashville, Tennessee. McDonald's debut solo album, Modern Hearts, was released on June 1, 2018.

Paul McDonald's debut album has layers of production in order to create a big, booming sound, but at Mercury Lounge tonight, opening for RIVVRS, McDonald performed his living room show, with just a silken voice and an acoustic guitar. As such, his high timber gave a prominently vulnerable texture to his cadre of soulful lyrics touching on emotional pain and redemption. McDonald was on the mend as he wrote these simmering songs, and tonight's naked interpretations underlined his search for renewed spiritual strength and solace. The songs embraced this quest, moving meditatively beyond sorrow and solitude to personal healing and hopefulness. This was the sweetness of McDonald's set; he captured universal sentiments and turned them into uplifting and invigorating anthems.

Visit Paul McDonald at www.thepaulmcdonald.com.