SOUL SEARCHING
Bridges unafraid to move in new directions
Leon Bridges' debut album, 2015's “Coming Home,” centered on the '60s. A surprise hit, the LP inspired critics and fans to label Bridges the second coming of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson. His follow-up, this year's “Good Thing,” has the Texas-born star singing more soul, but the '60s fetish has been abandoned. “Good Thing” runs from jazz-touched R&B to neo soul, '70s quiet storm and modern pop. Astonishingly, Bridges stitches together seven decades of soul into 10 tracks. Bridges' dramatic aesthetic expansion confused a lot of people, including his mom.
“It was pretty hilarious because when I played her the new song `Bad Bad News,' she asked, `Who is that?'” the singer said ahead of his Thursday headlining show at Agganis Arena. “She said that even though I told her I was about to play her my new album. But she has been super-supportive of me. It just shocked her because
I am singing on this album in ways that I haven't before.”
His mother did recognize one song: “Georgia to Texas.”
In the tune, over a cool hard bop saxophone, Bridges sings about his pregnant mother's trip across the South to settle in Texas. With a pleading vocal line and reverent lyrics, the song closes “Good Thing” with a fitting artistic boldness.
“She loved that one — I would say that's one of her favorites and one of my favorites,” he said. “The song started with me messing around on this Rhodes (keyboard) in the studio, just messing with chords and melody. Then (drummer) Joshua Block and (bassist) Austin Jenkins started to layer some instruments on the song. When we got to L.A. to record it, it did have that Coltrane vibe thanks to my dude Jeff Dazey laying down the saxophone.”
Bridges, his band and the production team didn't fear taking “Good Thing” in a new direction with every track. Other artists wouldn't bury obvious, upbeat hits at the back of the record, but “If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be)” and “You Don't Know” come in at tracks seven and eight.
“It was liberating to create without any boundaries,” he said. “I asked myself, `How can I put my spin on pop production?' Look at a song like `Shy.' With what's going on the production, it could be an J Dilla or an Usher thing, but the melody on top of it almost feels like an Al Green thing. That freedom to do it all was what made this process so fun.”
After a whirlwind first few years in the spotlight — Bridges appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and “Sesame Street,” grabbed Grammy nominations and performed for President Obama at the White House — he didn't rush into “Good Thing.” You can hear that.
“I was hit with things pretty fast and I needed to be on 100 percent of the time,” he said. “That was hard. Even now with this new project, there are moments I feel overwhelmed. But we worked slowly, and that helped make this project different and new.
“I mean, we have jazz guitar solo on a pop song. That's not something you hear these days,” he added.