Photo by Gustavo Olivares
Legendary American soul singer Lee Fields has announced his full-length Daptone Records debut, Sentimental Fool, which is set to release on Friday, Oct. 28. The announcement of the LP comes with the premiere of the project’s title track and an official music video which was directed by Andrew Anderson.
Sentimental Fool marks Fields’ first offering since 2019’s It Rains Love and was produced by Daptone Records founder, producer and musician Bosco Mann, a.k.a. Gabriel Roth, at the Penrose Recorders/Daptone West studio in Riverside, Calif. and recorded with his longtime band, The Expressions. The release of the title track and announcement of the project follows the debut of “Ordinary Lives,” which will also be featured on the LP.
“I wanted to cut a different kind of record and really give Lee room to sing,” explained Roth in a statement. “We took our time and got painfully deep into every one of these tunes, stripping them down to pure feeling – no effort spared, no empty gestures remaining. Lee might be the greatest singer alive and I don’t think he’s ever sung better than on these sessions.”
The music video for the title track captures the elegant and classic style of the 1970s by following Fields, who glides upon a single road surrounded by lush hillsides adorned in boots, a clean-cut suit and white flowers in hand. Anderson matches the pathos of Fields’ singing, accompanying the 72-year-old–whose career has spanned more than 50 years and includes 20 albums and 40 singles–as he walks alone on the road only to stop at locations where one’s only company is contemplation: diners and rest stops, as Fields sings, “I couldn’t see / It was only me, who believed in a love / That could never be.”
“With Gabe’s efforts I feel like this album depicts me as the full character that I am,” added Fields. “I’m all about emotions. This album allowed me to show what I’m capable of doing. Not to say that my vocal ability goes beyond others, but I’m able to figure out the math to get the feeling you’re looking for. I’m not trying to outdo any singer, but I can interpret the feeling. I can make someone cry if I want to. It’s always the challenge of trying to make something deeper. On this record, I go deeper than I’ve ever gone.”
The soul singer has recently wrapped a West Coast headline run, but much like the undeterred pace featured in the music video for “Sentimental Fool,” he will continue his performance schedule with a North American tour beginning at the Space Ballroom in Hamden, Conn. and continuing through New Year’s Eve where he’ll perform at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Brooklyn Made on Dec. 31.
Pre-order Sentimental Fool here.
Listen to and watch the video for “Sentimental Fool” below.
Tracklist:
Forever
I Should Have Let You Be
Sentimental Fool
Two Jobs
Just Give Me Your Time
Save Your Tears For Someone New
The Door
What Did I Do
Without A Heart
Ordinary Lives
Your Face Before My Eyes
Extraordinary Man
Lee Fields North American Tour 2022
Sept. 3 – Chattanooga, TN – Rail & Hops Brewers Festival
Oct. 15 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom
Oct. 20 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
Oct. 21 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theater
Oct. 28 – Seattle, WA – Showbox
Oct. 29 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
Oct. 30 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
Nov. 1 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House
Nov. 3 – Dallas, TX – Echo Lounge
Nov. 4 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
Nov. 5 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
Nov. 11 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
Nov. 12 – Rochester, NY – Photo City
Nov. 13 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
Nov. 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl
Nov. 19 – Washington, DC – The Black Cat
Dec. 1 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
Dec. 2 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theater
Dec. 3 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
Dec. 31 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Made