BATON ROUGE - Musician Caleb Paul performed during WBRZ's 'Unite for Our Heroes' telethon Thursday night.

Paul, a former Baton Rouge Police officer, is a combat veteran. Paul was deployed during 2012-2013 to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. While in Afghanistan, Paul wrote songs and, when he returned home to Baton Rouge, called fellow musicians Jordan Snyder, Jared Daigle, Karl Boudreaux, and Josie Menard to form The Gillis Silo.

The band plays an alternative, rock-infused country sound.

The band is named for a bar found on a La. National Guard post.

The band released its latest EP 'Long Time Coming' recently; it's available on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.  Click HERE to visit the band's website. 

Paul performed 'Thin Blue Line' Thursday, a song he performs solo with his guitar in honor of law enforcement officers.  Paul said he wrote the song following the shooting death of police officers in Dallas.  A few days later, three officers in Baton Rouge were shot and killed.

"I feel very connected to law enforcement; I was military police and civilian police.  It's something I feel strongly about," he said.  

Paul is on a Thin Blue Line Tour, a road trip to perform for law enforcement officers.

"[We've] driven 3600 miles in the last week," he said.  Paul returned to Baton Rouge to perform Thursday night and earlier in the day during a memorial service at Healing Place Church for the officers who were killed in an ambush on July 17th. 

The WBRZ telethon raised more than $160,000 by Thursday night. Click HERE to read more and for information about how to donate into the weekend. 
********************
Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz