Eli Paperboy Reed and the True Loves
Soul / Soul
Eli "Paperboy" Reed was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and grew up listening to the Blues, Gospel, Soul and Country that his father would sing and play for him on records. At the age of 13 he started playing the harmonica in the style of his idol, the great Sonny Boy Williamson II and soon after picked up the guitar and the piano.
After graduating high school at the age of 18, on a whim Reed moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi. Not yet ready to continue formal education, Reed knew that Clarksdale was the place to continue the informal musical education that he had already begun. After arriving in Clarksdale he quickly found that there was still a thriving rhythm & blues scene in the clubs and bars of the upper Mississippi Delta. He began sitting in with bands playing guitar, harmonica and singing at clubs around the area.
Legendary drummer Sam Carr took Reed under his wing and began to tutor him. Carr and other Delta musicians helped Reed perfect his playing, singing and his performance style and taught him how to win over the tough crowds of the juke joints. The lessons learned in those clubs can still be seen and heard in Reed's live shows today.
Living alone in Mississippi is hard on anyone though, let alone an 18 year old from New England, and after 9 months Reed decided it was time to move on. He was accepted to the University of Chicago and began attending there in the fall of 2003. Once in Chicago, Reed developed a friendship with former Soul Singer and University of Chicago employee, The Reverend Mitty Collier.
Collier was planning on starting a small new church on the South Side of Chicago and after hearing Reed's piano playing, she invited him to act as Minister of Music. Reed quickly accepted, having loved the sounds of Gospel music from a young age. Playing in a Black Church taught Reed almost as much as playing in the clubs of Mississippi, and the Church audience is just as demanding as the one in the clubs. If one's playing and singing doesn't lift their spirits, the congregation will let you know. So Collier and the other Ministers in the Church taught Reed the do's and don'ts of how to make the Church shout. At the same time, Reed was hosting a radio show on the University of Chicago radio station playing Soul and Blues 45s that he would find at local thrift stores.
After one year at the University, though, Reed decided that he need to take some time to pursue music full-time. So in the spring of 2004, Reed returned to Boston to put a band together and focus on the music he wanted to make. It was then that he formed Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves and began pursuing his goal of playing this music with the energy and vitality that it so deserves.
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