Leon Bridges, 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire

On the back of just three singles, Leon Bridges is already selling out venues across the States, and recently played to a packed crowd at Shoreditch's Village Underground. This September, 'your new favourite soul artist' (so says Under the Gun) will play his biggest UK shows to date at the Shepherd Bush Empire.
It might be the sign of a promising career that Bridges' fledgling story already has its own – possibly apocryphal – 'how it all begin' story. A chance meeting in an Texas bar with White Denim guitarist Austin Jenkins – they reportedly bonded over high-waisted Wranglers – saw Bridges parachuted into a local vintage-instruments project being put together by Jenkins and a bandmate. Before the year was out, debut single Coming Home was bearing down on a million Soundcloud hits, and Columbia Records had beaten off a host of competition for the singer.
Sat somewhere on the continuum of throwback soul singers between Aloe Blacc and Michael Kiwanuka (for whom the theme of returning home has also proved fruitful), Bridges' writes simple, deeply soulful songs, that could easily be Otis Redding b-sides. His debut album Coming Home came out this month to rave reviews. Get booking.