Leon bridges gay

Wary of being pigeonholed, Bridges transitioned to modern, sexy, and bold music in his second album, Good Thing. The move polarized fans, but Bridges saw it as a necessary step in his career. Following the October, 2014 release of two tunes that set the on-line world aflame, and accompanied by intimate solo shows from London to Los Angeles and Nashville to New York, the singer and songwriter has proved himself a rare talent who can do smoldering ballads and elemental rock'n'roll with equal aplomb.

"I'm not a shouter. "I asked her to show me a couple chords first. "They're with me at all times," affirms Bridges. I fell in love with their sound, and that's when I started writing songs, from those two chords."

That Bridges compositional bedrock began in a minor mode is revealing. I’m trying to find balance.

The song, about Bridges' mother, a woman "with the complexion of a sweet praline," has the flavor of one of Allen Toussaint's productions for the great Lee Dorsey. The point of comparison is apt, but not initially intentional. The singer said he enjoys hookups and casual flings as he doesn’t have the time to invest in a long-term romance. “We all love it, so why not?” Bridges said. 

The Texas native found fame performing soul music reminiscent of releases from Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.

He began a tenderfoot period of apprenticeship playing coffeehouses in and around Fort Worth, slowly finding and refining his voice.

A turning point soon came via a pair of selvedge trousers. It depicts Bridges sauntering down a sunlit sidewalk, his shadow falling not behind him but stretching out in the direction of his forward stride. "I was asked 'Is Sam Cooke one of your inspirations?' I had to say no, because I only knew Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' from the movie Malcolm X, which I'd watched with my father.

His ancestors and antecedents walk with him. His busy schedule as an artist prevents him from sustaining long-term relationships. 

Bridges told CBC that during a tour, ‘he likes to know where the beautiful ladies hang out’. “Oh, definitely, all the way,” Bridges described his single status.

"Columbia has artists I look up to like Adele and Pharrell, as well as Raphael Saadiq and John Legend," says Bridges. But from being asked about Sam Cooke and Otis Redding I started digging deeper into soul music from the '50 and '60s and realizing this is really the root of what I'm doing."

What to make of the fact that Bridges is working in a tradition whose existence he was initially only vaguely aware of?

"I'm not saying I can hold a candle to any soul musician from the '50s and '60s," Bridges says, "but I want to carry the torch."

Humility aside, Bridges' light is burning bright. "They way they value artistry makes it feel like home."

The early 2015 release of another new song, "Lisa Sawyer," has further burnished Bridges' promise.

One night at an Austin bar Bridges was approached by a young woman who complimented him on his snazzy Wrangler's and said that he should meet her boyfriend, a fellow with a comparable sense of style. I didn’t have the desire to stay boxed in, making ‘60s style R&B for the rest of my career.”

---