Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves

Photograph: Bob Perachio

Slipper Room; Thu 13
Southpaw; Fri 14
Mercury Lounge; Jan 9

When he was 18, Eli “Paperboy” Reed left his home in Boston and set out for Clarksdale, the Mississippi town where the devil, on the losing end of one of history’s greatest rip-offs, purchased Robert Johnson’s soul in exchange for the blues. The Delta region is the source of much musical lore, but Reed may be the first soul singer lured there through an Internet message board. After a year playing juke joints, he followed the migration of so many musicians and moved to Chicago’s South Side. Unlike his forebears, Reed did not work in a steel factory, but attended the University of Chicago.

Regardless of any less-than-romantic details, the baby-faced singer, now 24 and back in Boston, absorbed his lessons. Reed is a frontman of the old school, his singing full of dramatic yelps and howls. His voice evokes Otis Redding, yet he has a light touch that can seem oddly feminine. In March, Q Division will release Roll with You, Reed’s second album and first devoted to original compositions. Recorded with his seven-piece band, the True Loves, the disc rarely attempts to update its genre. Though Reed can get tripped up grasping at authenticity, he’s a gung ho performer, diving into every yowl with old-time abandon. “Aaaaaay!” he shrieks during “Baby,” a ballad that serves as the album’s climax. “I love you!” The talented singer is clearly screaming from the heart—whether the subject is a romantic mate or a musical genre has yet to be determined.

—Jay Ruttenberg