Eli 'Paperboy' Reed Focuses on Music Instead of Race

Posted on Aug 25th 2010 3:00PM by Dan Reilly
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Dating back to its origins, particularly in the heyday of Motown and Stax, soul has been one of the most integrated genres. But even in 2010, many people unfortunately still regard it as purely African-American music with a few white exceptions, a bias singer Eli "Paperboy" Reed has experienced firsthand.

"Constantly, people make what I feel are very ignorant racial statements and it's just because they don't really know," the 26-year-old Massachusetts native tells Spinner. "It's like, 'Well, how do you feel about being a white man in a black genre?' and I'm just like 'That doesn't make any sense.'"

Reed and his band, the True Loves, have just released their third album and major label debut, 'Come and Get It,' and their high-energy take on traditional soul has found an audience around the world, regardless of race -- an issue Reed prefers to ignore.

"I don't let it bother me. A part of what makes my band really great is it's an integrated band, half black and half white," he says. "That didn't happen on purpose -- it was just musicians that are good. That's what made soul music very special when it was emerging. That was something that was really unheard of at the time. For me, music is not about race in any way. It's cultural and visceral and all that stuff but, for me, race is just so far behind so many other elements that I barely think about it."

Even with the lines between genres blurring, Reed recognizes that things haven't necessarily changed much in music. "There's definitely a big racial divide. It doesn't really matter -- there are different subsets of cultures that listen to different music and that's just kind of the way it is," he says. "But it's always very exciting and heartening to see my audiences be of all different races and ages and that kind of stuff. It definitely makes me feel good."

'Come and Get It' is out now via Capitol/EMI. Watch the video for the title track below.

Download Eli "Paperboy" Reed Songs | Buy Eli "Paperboy" Reed Albums