Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed (from the album Down Every Road

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed (from the album Down Every Road available on Yep Roc Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The entry notes and groove that open Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed’ latest, Down Every Road, fit perfectly into the Soul/Stax music of the Memphis mentors that have guided the Boston Soulman throughout his acclaimed career. The opening cut, “Mama Tried”, written by Merle Haggard receives a transformation in the hands of Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and his band, starting the musical model followed by the tracks on Down Every Road as the California Country sepia tones of Merle’s songs take on the warm hues of the North Country Soul when Eli ‘Paperboy” Reed reinvents the Haggard catalog with sweet Soul music. “Silver Wings” dances to a Cha-Cha beat while hopes of “If We Make It Through December” shiver in a slow-motion Soul groove as “Workin’ Man Blues” stays true to the genre named in the song title.
Soul is the partner that brought Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed to the party though his early years were soundtracked with Country music. A younger Eli was transfixed to his dad’s Merle Haggard album collection, recalling the songwriting as something that could ‘get to the heart of these extraordinarily complicated emotional sentiments in two-and-a-half minutes, and that was something that really stuck with me’. Fulfilling a life-long wish list studio goal, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed takes to the highway with his songwriting hero, Merle Haggard songs riding shotgun when Down Every Road is namechecked in “I am a Lonesome Fugitive” as a hefty backbeat promises “I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can”. Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed lays down an uptown beat strutting into “If It’s Not Love, It’s Not Bad”, and returns to a cha-cha-cha patter as plane lights, and love, fade out of sight for “Silver Wings”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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