Eli “Paperboy” Reed
Pretty Fly for a White Guy
Eli “Paperboy” Reed makes his major label debut

By Jeff Niesel

After high school, Boston-bred singer Eli Paperboy Reed moved to the Deep South to pursue a career in commercial radio. While that didn’t work, he used the opportunity to hone his musical chops and came back to Boston with a new musical perspective. He put together a band that could play old school sounding soul and R&B and started playing the circuit. Now, Reed makes his major label this month with Come and Get It, a fine disc of catchy tunes that recaptures the spirit of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. Just back from a European tour, Reed recently spoke about the new album and his musical history. Come and Get It is your major label debut. How’d the transition go? It was pretty easy. We had to go through my independent label, Q Division, but it was a simple process. In terms of the recording, we made it at the same place and the same studio. We could hire more musicians and work with a great producer and expand upon the sound.

I think producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Pink, Fiona Apple) really nailed your sound.
He was able to coax really great performances out of the band, which I think is really so important. It wasn’t one particular idea. He’d just change a note here or there and after we got through doing it, the songs sounded cohesive and better. I think the songs are instantly memorable, too. You wrote most them, right? I wrote pretty much everything. I wrote half myself and half with my guitar player.

Your approach seems simultaneously simple and complex. Is it difficult to deliver the kind of simple turns of phrases we hear in tunes like “Name Calling”?
I thought “Name Calling” was a good idea for a song. I pretty much had the song as soon as I had the idea. You pretty much already have your song. You just have to flesh out the story. The simplicity makes it so effective. You can’t deny that those kinds of songs are so relatable. They’re not specific about a particular happening. Do you think of what you do as retro? I don’t. I couldn’t make music any other way. I didn’t set out to make a record that sounds like the ’60s. I don’t think it sounds that way. You have a high voice, but it sounds like you expanded your range here. I’ve been singing on the road for three years and that definitely makes you a better singer. I felt like writing these songs, I could feature more of my own voice. I have a pretty high voice, but there’s no better way to become a better singer than singing on the road.

I read that your dad had an extensive record collection and that’s what initially inspired you. That true?
Yeah, definitely. The records my dad played around the house were instrumental. The music really shaped my musical upbringing. I would sound different if it weren’t for that. Also, the access I had to records and the liner notes were significant. I spent time reading about what was on these records and I learned so much from that. At what point did you know you’d be a singer? I never thought about being a singer. I knew it was music I liked. I never thought about being a singer until much, much later. Toward the end of high school I realized people liked the way I sang and I started singing in church and people responded to my singing in that way. That was trial by fire. How significant was the time you spent in Mississippi? It was huge. I can’t even quantify it. I met some great people and learned about playing live in clubs so that was a big deal.

You’ve been called Boston’s answer to Sam Cooke and compared to Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. What’s that like?
I think it’s very, very flattering. I almost don’t know what to say. I can’t really speak to that. My hope is that while I appreciate it, I hope that people can listen to the music on its own terms. What’s it like for a white guy to be compared to African-American singers? I don’t feel like this is black music or white music. I think this is American music and that’s what makes it so great. Go tell that to Ronnie Milsap or Wayne Cochran. Tell them that this is black music and they’ll laugh at you. It doesn’t make sense to me. You don’t have to put music in a racial context. That angle gets played up a lot. It’s unfortunate. Certainly your shows draw mixed crowds. Young and old, black and white. Whatever. It’s everybody. That’s the point. You’re on a short club tour. What’s next? I’m hoping we can do a much larger headlining tour in the U.S. in the fall. We’ll be back in Europe for more festival dates this summer. We’ll be back in August for the record release and do some TV appearances and see where the road takes us.