Lee Fields never grew up after 1971. His slicked hair may have thinned and the bags beneath his eyes may have puckered, but that southern soul sound still rattles up from the toes in his well-shined shoes out through the vocal chords that haven’t stopped crooning since they started.
On a parallel planet, James Brown was called “Little L.F.” as a kid and is carrying the native North Carolinian’s legacy around on his suit shoulders. But in this world, the reverse is reality. And while the gods may not have blessed Fields with the Godfather’s life of fame and fortune, they’ve given many of us who didn’t grow up in the web of southern soul radio that excited jolt of finding something that has been unfairly hidden for too many years.
On Fields’ 2009 release from Truth and Soul Records, My World—his fifteenth album since his 1979 debut—he cries and croaks, purrs and pleads, mostly over love, including a cover of The Supremes’ “My World is Empty Without You.” His band, the Expressions, groove in a smooth melancholy, often channeling the gang who backed Curtis Mayfield on Superfly.
The record “Love Comes and Goes” off the album has been the song most of those who know of Fields play first for their friends. But try the cut “Ladies” instead. By the end of the track’s chorus, Fields is left almost breathless as he professes the powers of a sultry summertime woman. His rasp seems to strain into his stomach, like it won’t survive another word. But, luckily for us, it does and he has.
(Photos: Truth And Soul Records)
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