This segment was rebroadcast on Jan. 10, 2022. Find that audio .
In the summer of 2015, you could tune into Top 40 radio and hear a sound straight out of the ā50s: rich, twangy guitar, a slow Southern soul beat, and a voice that echoed Sam Cooke, Otis Redding or Willie Nelson.
āComing Home,ā the opening track off of ā 2015 debut album named after the song, was like glittering gold in a pan of red Texas dirt. The album was a love letter to that tradition of Texas soul ā a period study in swimming across the Mississippi River to ask a special someone for another chance, backed up by a fuzzy, dusty big-band youād nod your head to over a couple beers.
āIām coming home to your tender, sweet loving ā¦ youāre my one and only woman,ā sang Bridges, a Texas native with a mind for heartache and a voice for making that pain and adoration felt in every bone and tendon.
āComing Homeā shot up the charts that summer, flying past corporate muzak and tinny, derivative pop and into the nationās consciousness.
After the success of that album, Bridges followed it up by leaping a couple decades ahead into the interwoven tapestry of ā80s and ā90s R&B. On his sophomore album, āGood Thing,ā he leaned into the bass, synthesizers and drum machines that came to the forefront somewhere between Reagan and Clinton ā Bill, not George.
Bridges showed what heās capable of with a Grammy win in 2019. Now in the 2020s ā as Black men and women are dying global, viral deaths in a time of anger and isolation ā the question is not what he can do, but who he is.
The resounding answer is ā,ā Leon Bridgesā third album, born out of a residency Bridges played at the Gold-Diggers hotel, studio and bar in East Hollywood.
āIt has somewhat of a kind of unassuming vibe from the exterior of it, somewhat of a refuge in the midst of this like gritty city,ā Bridges says. āAnd we had basically been digging and searching for the right sound over the course of two years, and we wanted to find a place that was aesthetically-inspiring, that we could just fully immerse ourselves in and cultivate this sound that was unique to me.ā
If the first two albums were pruning and preening a gnarled tree of inspiration, āGold-Diggers Soundā is exactly as Bridges puts it ā cultivating a new garden that is wholly him.
The opening track, āBorn Again,ā approaches the listener slowly, feeling out a new connection with the audience that isnāt predicated on an established genre. A slow chord progression on an electronic keyboard is bolstered by trembling strings, and finally Bridgesā voice: āSit still, take it slow, soak it in.ā The track features legendary pianist and producer Robert Glasper.
āI noticed initially that I was immediately boxed in,ā he says, āand I wanted to deviate from that.ā
The song āMotorbikeā served as Bridgesā ānorth starā that guided him on how to shape the albumās sound, he says.
āI wanted to create this vibe of escaping and just living in the moment,ā he says.
Bridges and his producer Ricky Reed talked about the idea of encapsulating a āsamurai cowboyā on the album.
A samurai cowboy is a lone ranger, a taciturn defender of freedom with a face of granite and a heart of gold, wandering the vistas and picturesque landscapes of Texas with a scrappy hound or a wistful steed.
Between the Atlanta trap-inspired beats, sparse synth horns and echoing violins, Bridges pulls it off with aplomb.
Any art made in the past year inherently cannot be separated from the events of the past year. āSweeter,ā one of the singles that came out ahead of the albumās release, became an anthem during the reckoning last year in the wake of George Floydās murder.
Bridges, a Black man, put words to brutal, generational trauma and the replay of shocking videos ā concrete evidence of a systemic hatred that couldnāt be ignored.
Bridges wrote āSweeterā prior to Floydās death about āthe perpetual narrative of unarmed Black men dying in the hands of police,ā the artist says. He knew he needed to write about the issue during a jam session with friend Terrace Martin.
āThrough most of my career, Iāve been scrutinized for not making political music,ā he says. āRacism is something Iāve experienced, and obviously [Iām] not oblivious to that reality. It was just really challenging finding the words.ā
In a statement after the murder of Floyd, Bridges said, āI have been numb for too long, calloused when it came to the issues of police brutalityā¦ I cannot and will not be silent any longer. Just as Abelās blood was crying out to God, George Floyd is crying out to me.ā
When he saw the video of Floydās murder, he recalls standing in the kitchen and bawling.
āI saw in that moment that that could have easily been me,ā Bridges said. āI had never really shed tears over someone I didnāt know, you know, because Iāve always just kind of shut everything off when it came to police brutality, because it hurt feeling that.ā
Bridges confronts his feelings of helplessness and inadequacy on āGold-Diggers Soundā not just on issues of race, but in his own skyrocket trip to international fame.
āI just felt like I wasnāt prepared enough to be in the limelight. For me, just being the person that I am, it was really hard to kind of go there,ā he says, ābut I can say the pandemic, for me, kind of allowed for me to heal.ā
People often set boundaries for Black artists, he says, so heās happy to see fans embracing his new sound.
This album is a breakthrough moment for Bridges, who has been pigeonholed and relegated by critics as a Cooke or Redding knock-off. Those claims failed to see the artist beneath, to understand that everything new re-envisioned something old.
The mature, self-confident sound on āGold-Diggers Soundā wouldnāt have been possible without Bridges finding his voice on his first two albums.
āIām sending the message that I can make whatever I want to make. The pool of inspiration is communal,ā he says. āAnd so this album is just about being honest about all those things that inspire me.ā
produced this interview and edited it for broadcast with . Tuerk also adapted this interview for the web.
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