Leon Bridges, the 32-year-old purveyor of neo-soul and R&B, began his career playing as many open-mic nights as possible until he attracted the attention of Columbia Records—home of such classic genre forebearers as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Isaac Hayes.
Beginning with 2015’s Coming Home followed by 2018’s Good Thing, Bridges built a broad audience and was described by one critic as a “throwback to ‘60s-soul a la Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.” Both albums were nominated for a “Best R&B Album” Grammy, and the single “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand” won “Best Traditional R&B Performance.”
In July, he released his third studio album, Gold-Diggers Sound, a record with roots in all-night jam sessions at the Los Angeles studio on Santa Monica Boulevard that inspired the album’s title.
“There’re multiple ways of how I approach songwriting,” Bridges told Fort Worth Magazine, which covers the city in which the singer-songwriter grew up. “I’m constantly fiddling on guitar, and a lot of the times, those songs never see the light of day. And then there are moments, specifically during the Gold-Diggers process, where a lot of these songs are collaborative. There are musicians in the room who start improvisational jams. … [T]he melody or rhythm that’s going on initially, that’s what dictates the concept for me.”
Between Good Thing and Gold-Diggers Sound, Bridges recorded an EP with the Texas instrumental trio Khruangbin titled Texas Sun, which mixed rock, funk, soul, Americana and psychedelic influences. He also cut the anti-racism single, “Sweeter,” with hip-hop artist Terrace Martin in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 murder.
“It was the first time I wept for a man I never met,” Bridges told Variety.com.
