Leon Bridges Coming Home - Vinyl

It's difficult to imagine a 1963 Columbia release from an artist whose look and sound echo 1911. In 2015, however, the thought of a young artist seemingly transported from a bygone era -- 52 years prior, to be exact -- requires no imagination whatsoever. Here's Leon Bridges. He was born in 1989. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist takes it back to the early '60s, slightly earlier than the majority of soul-rooted artists, including labelmates Raphael Saadiq, who have favored a vintage approach over a contemporary one. For those who hold younger artists to an impossible standard of authenticity, Bridges is unlikely to receive a passing grade. As a youngster, he was naturally drawn to libidinous, then-current pop-R&B acts like Usher and Ginuwine, and he didn't even have to get his hands dirty to absorb later inspiration from the likes of Sam Cooke and pre-"Grapevine" Marvin Gaye, not when all he needed was an Internet connection. Helped by White Denim's Josh Block and Austin Jenkins