Wednesday, March 14   12:00 a.m.
Continental Club   (1315 S Congress Ave)

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  Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves - Take My Love With You
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Eli “Paperboy” Reed is a gifted young singer/guitarist and a wise-beyond-his years interpreter of mid-20th century gospel, blues and soul obscurities who is backed by crack seven-piece backing band (including upright bass, keys, tenor sax and trombone) called The True Loves.

Eli Reed is a young Jewish kid from Brookline, MA born in the 1980's. This seemingly ordinary fact is rendered extraordinary about 10 seconds into his debut album, Eli "Paperboy" Reed Sings Walkin' and Talkin' and Other Smash Hits! (Double E). A quick blues riff - recorded in mono with a retro sound that practically belies the existence of stereo - gives way to a pleading voice that could belong only to a man who's been done wrong a few too many times. He may not have been victimized by an oppressive society or an unfaithful woman, but he can play and sing old-school R&B, gospel, and soul - music he discovered as a child through his dad's extensive vinyl collection.

After graduating from Brookline High in 2002, he left for Clarksdale, Mississippi, spending the next nine months playing primarily with black musicians and for black audiences throughout the North Mississippi Delta. Following a short stint at the University of Chicago, he acted as "Minister of Music" at a small church on the South Side, playing gospel music for black churchgoers.

Upon returning to Massachusetts with a new name - some folks down South thought his scally cap made him look like an old-fashioned newsboy, he decided to pursue music full-time.

In 2006, Eli and the band released a follow-up EP entitled "Roll With You". The song of the same name was featured on Salon.com's 'Song of the Week' where it garnered huge praise from Death Cab For Cuties Chris Walla: "It's a testament to the beautiful thing that can happen when a group is both talented and studied: The Ahmet-era Atlantic R&B idioms are right on; the recording is spectacularly live (and mono); the key change is seamless; Eli's vocal is both relaxed and convincing; and, most important, the song is awesome."

Eli and The True Loves are currently in the studio recording their debut for Q Division Records.