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Legendary soul singer Lee Fields has released his Daptone Records debut album today. Fields’ first new album in three years, Sentimental Fool was produced by Daptone founder Bosco Mann – a.k.a. producer/musician Gabriel Roth – at his Penrose Recorders/Daptone West studio in Riverside, CA. The album's new single, "Save Your Tears For Someone New" is streaming now.
STREAM/PURCHASE SENTIMENTAL FOOL
LISTEN TO "SAVE YOUR TEARS FOR SOMEONE NEW"
Sentimental Fool is a deep, blues-tinged collection expertly showcasing the beauty, power, and raw humanity of Fields’ voice. The album – which features backing from an all-star lineup of Daptone family members including guitarist Thomas Brenneck, bassist Benny Trokan, drummer Brian Wolfe, keyboardists Victor Axelrod and Jimmy Hill, saxophonists Neal Sugarman and Ian Hendrickson-Smith, and trumpeter Dave Guy, along with an array of additional guest musicians and backing vocalists – stands tall as a stunning return to Fields’ R&B roots.
“I wanted to cut a different kind of record and really give Lee room to sing,” explains Roth. “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.”
“With Gabe’s efforts I feel like this album depicts me as the full character that I am,” says 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.”
PRAISE FOR LEE FIELDS SENTIMENTAL FOOL:
"Soulful, tender...Though Sentimental Fool is steeped in the vintage sounds of the '60s and '70s, it's still modern, and is a record Fields doesn't think he could have made at any other point in his career."
– People Magazine
"Sentimental Fool, surprisingly his debut for the Daptone label (he recorded some early singles for them), is among his finest recordings...It’s a deep well of soul, influenced more by Otis Redding than James Brown...
No Pro-Tools, no hip-hop, no synths or programmed beats,
this is as organic, honest, and powerful as soul gets...this is a contemporary/retro-tinged classic."
– American Songwriter
“Fields offers up a dozen deeply satisfying tracks that showcase his prodigious gifts
as an interpreter of soul and blues… The combination of the Daptone sound and Fields’
charisma as a performer are a natural fit on Sentimental Fool.”
– No Depression
"All over Sentimental Fool, you can hear decades of experience in Fields’ vocal performance...Fields is able to craft unforgettable moments. His sense of melody and timing is the driving force behind this magic...
With the recent passing of Sharon Jones & Charles Bradley, Lee Fields
remains the “soul” survivor of a glorious sound, and we’re lucky to have him around."
– Glide
Upon announcement earlier this year, “Sentimental Fool” was greeted by instant acclaim from media outlets around the world, with CLASH praising the new album’s title track for “a scorching, gospel-infused vocal that leans on Fields’ decades-worth of experience in order to reveal his innermost emotions exposed.” The album also includes the recently released singles, “Ordinary Lives,” “Sentimental Fool,” “Forever,” and “Two Jobs.” “Sentimental Fool” was joined by an official music video directed by Andrew Anderson and is currently streaming now at YouTube. A stripped-down live performance video of “Forver” – featuring backing from guitarist Thomas Brenneck (Charles Bradley, Menahan Street Band) and vocalist Josh Lane (Thee Sacred Souls) – is also streaming now on YouTube.
WATCH “SENTIMENTAL FOOL” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
WATCH “FOREVER (STRIPPED-DOWN PERFORMANCE)”
Fields is currently celebrating Sentimental Fool on a North American tour that got underway on October 15 at Hamden, CT’s Space Ballroom and will be traveling through a very special New Year’s Eve show at Brooklyn, NY’s Brooklyn Made on December 31. For complete details and ticket information, please visit mrleefields.com/tour.
LEE FIELDS
THE SENTIMENTAL FOOL TOUR
NORTH AMERICA 2022
OCTOBER
28 – Seattle, WA – Showbox
29 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
30 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
NOVEMBER
1 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House
3 – Dallas, TX – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
4 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
5 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
11 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
12 – Rochester, NY – Photo City
13 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground Ballroom
18 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia
19 – Washington, DC – The Black Cat
DECEMBER
1 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
2 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theater
3 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
31 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Made
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Hailed by Rolling Stone for “his classic American soul sound,” Lee Fields is arguably the greatest pure soul singer alive today. In an age when the shelf life of an artist largely depends on posturing and trends, he has proven to be an unassailable force of nature. His prolific five-decades-plus career spans more than 20 albums and over 40 singles, a supreme, still-evolving body of work that continues to garner attention via samples by such heavyweight artists as J. Cole, Travis Scott, Rick Ross, and A$AP Rocky as well as outside-the-box collaborations like the worldwide dance club hit, “Jealousy,” with French DJ/producer Martin Solveig.
The North Carolina-born Fields arrived in New York City in 1967, inspired by James Brown’s legendary performance on The T.A.M.I. Show to make himself a soul star. The decades that followed saw Fields grow a hard-earned reputation as a true king of funk with a steady stream of albums and singles, including 1969’s stone classic, “Let’s Talk It Over.” Though missed opportunities and changing musical tastes over the years might have kept him from reaching the pinnacle of mainstream stardom, Fields never let up, keeping the soul flame alive with independent releases and non-stop touring on the southern blues circuit.
In 1996, Fields recorded “Let a Man Do What He Wana Do” [sic] for Desco Records, a New York-based independent label co-run by producer/musician Gabriel Roth. The full-length Let’s Get a Groove On followed in 1998, cementing Fields as a torchbearer of the new funk revival, a Golden Age icon for a whole new generation of soul fans around the world. Fields continues to reign supreme on the modern funk and soul scene via a long series of new LPs and singles – including seven LPs joined by his explosive backing band, The Expressions – as well as countless live visits to every relevant venue and major festival on the planet, from Carnegie Hall and L’Olympia to Coachella, Bonnaroo, Newport Folk, Roskilde, and many more, earning applause from such outlets as NPR for his “groove-filled performances with fiery energy and toe-tapping swagger.”
In 2001, Roth opened the doors on Daptone Records, with Fields releasing a handful of singles in the early aughts. Now, more than two decades later, Fields has officially joined the Daptone roster, reuniting him with Roth on the 25th anniversary of their first meeting.
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LEE FIELDS
SENTIMENTAL FOOL
(Daptone Records)
Release Date: Friday, October 28, 2022
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