2018 Grammy Winner Leon Bridges

These rainy days often put me in the mood for soulful music. I just want to curl up with a big blanket and sit by the window watching the rain patter down while Leon Bridges sings to me in the background.

Oh how I love an uptown girl / She's the one I'm thinking of / Daisy Mae...

I was first introduced to Leon Bridges by my fiancee who heard him on NPR. Like most of his fans, he fell in love with Bridges' debut single Coming Home and immediately purchased the full album. He sent it to me the same day and Coming Home became the first album in a long time that I sat and listened to from beginning to end on a never-ending loop. What I loved about these early days of discovering Leon is that I was not hearing him on mainstream radio yet. Many of my friends did not know about him and it was nice having my own private secret with my fiancee. Coming Home was "our" album and the early days of us dating were marked with many car rides listening to Leon and talking about other music we loved.

Been traveling these wide roads for so long / My heart's been far from you / Ten-thousand miles gone...

I don't remember how many days or weeks later, but I remember watching the first season of Big Little Lies and Bridge's song River was featured. That was about the time when more people began discovering his talent and I was beginning to hear and see more about him on mainstream media. I really wanted to see him perform live that year but it wasn't meant to be. However, last year in 2018 Bridges released his second album, Good Thing, and with its release, I knew I would get another shot at seeing him live, and I did! On Friday, September 7, 2018, I went to the Greek Theater in Berkeley with my fiancee. We ended up sitting on the lawn and had a wonderful time listening to Leon play into the night on a very clear and magical fall evening. It was especially fun for me to return to my alma mater (year 2004!) and finally see a concert at the Greek, which surprisingly I never did while I went to school there.

If you watched the Grammys this year, you'll know Bet Ain't Worth the Hand won Best Traditional R&B Performance. A well-deserved achievement for this talented artist.

Want to listen to Leon Bridges in your car or at home? You can request his albums from the library. Below are some of my favorites.

Good Thing

Coming Home

Big Little Lies

What is your favorite Leon Bridges song? Let us know below!