In 2013, Reed got to record at the fabled FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Ala., with a group that included members of the legendary Swampers – guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist David Hood, and piano man Spooner Oldham. Merle Haggard’s “I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can” gets a swaggering R&B makeover, as Reed follows the template he would use on 2021’s Down Every Road, an album of all Haggard songs given a similar transformation from country. Two other numbers from that 2009 session are here: “Bad Girl” is another soul scorcher, with Reed revealing another weapon in his vocal arsenal as he occasionally rises into falsetto. At one point the tempo and volume downshift, as if giving everyone a chance to catch their breath, before revving back up and hurtling to a furious finish. The singer and guitarist comes out blazing with “Ace of Spades,” turning Motorhead’s blast of speed-metal into what sounds like a lost soul classic, with blaring horns and throat-shredding vocals. The 11-song set nevertheless holds together as a powerful testament to Reed’s interpretive skills and his songwriting prowess (three of the numbers are originals). It’s a collection mostly of tracks that appeared on 45s sold on European tours and spans more than a decade. With eight standout albums behind him, Reed is now releasing Hits and Misses: The Singles.
But he sounds less like a mere throwback as implied by that nickname – spawned by a long-ago habit of wearing a newsboy cap but now such a part of his identity that the quotation marks are not really needed – and someone who is breathing ferocious new fire into the music. Now, he possesses a thorough command of those vintage styles himself. Early on he moved to the Mississippi Delta and then Chicago to soak up the sounds of blues, R&B, and gospel from some of the masters. To use the cliché, the 40-year-old Massachusetts-reared artist born Eli Husock walks it like he talks it.
But with Eli “Paperboy” Reed, it’s no affectation. He carries an analog nickname in a digital world.
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