Leon Bridges burst on the music scene in 2015 with the release of "Coming Home," the single and album that rode the considerable shirttails of soul singers Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.
By channeling their classic singing styles, Bridges reawakened old fans and introduced new ones to the soul singer and became a star because of it.
With his second album, "Good Thing," Bridges said he wanted to stay true to what got him where he was, but also move forward.
To do that, he said he needed to write new songs from his own heart. He did so, well enough to land hits from the 2018 release with "Beyond" and "Bad Bad News."
"Luckily, it wasn't the label that tried to dictate the sounds," he said in an interview advancing his show at Memorial Auditorium on Friday, April 12.
"It was a self-imposed thing. Going into it, I was like 'Cool, I do understand that I have had success with a certain sound, but I want to move forward and move out of being pigeonholed.' I've always been upfront and honest about my influences."
And how does it feel to be mentioned in the same breath as Cooke and Redding?
"It's a huge honor, man. Even as I move forward, I have to keep the roots and stay relevant. R&B and blues music is an important part of black culture."
Bridges said he's already working on his third album and plans to move things even further.
"You have to evolve. I have a bunch of jams that haven't been released. Things that you wouldn't think of being in R&B. Maybe that whole Texas R&B type thing with some hip-hop production with a folksy, soulful thing. It's really exciting."
Things happened relatively quickly for Bridges. He was working in a grille in Fort Worth, writing songs and singing whenever he could. His recording of "Coming Home" got some local airplay and he drew the attention of Austin Jenkins and Joshua Block of White Denim. They helped get him in front of the right people and took him on tour.
"I hate to use it because it's cliche, but it was a whirlwind. It went so fast. Kind of a rocket ship in the beginning. I was super naive, taking on everything as it came. I do feel like I wasn't prepared. It can be overwhelming."
Bridges said his smoking-hot show at Bonnaroo in 2017 was his coming-of-age moment when he felt like he'd found his confidence onstage.
"For me, that was definitely one of these moments. It was something that kicked it in on a performance level. That whole tour. I kind of came into a new showmanship level. The energy. The form."
He said people who see the show Friday will see that and hear a great band.
"I'm excited. I've got an awesome band and we like to say we are trying to get the live show bulletproof."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.