Diamond in the rough

“Next big thing” is chiselled into the forehead of Willis Earl Beal, a 23-year-old black singer from Chicago whose rudimentary blues and rock ‘n’ roll songs sound as if Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Otis Redding, and Tom Waits have made a pact with the devil. And that’s even before he has released a single note of music. Officially, at least. His life story – whether a bold marketing story or not – is tasty. After being turned down for medical reasons by the US Army, Beal

moved to New Mexico and wrote hundreds of songs as therapy for his subsequent depression. He picked up instruments at junk markets in Albuquerque and recorded with a trashy little microphone that cost a few dollars. He took no interest in Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace and distributed his music by giving homemade CDs to random individuals and by spreading flyers with his address and phone number on them. If you wrote him, he made you a drawing, and if you rang up, he sang one of his songs with his raw, brittle, and sometimes tender voice. The info is still available on his website and you can find a few of his songs on YouTube.
Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) is now a fan, the rapper Mos Def wants to make a film script about his life, and record companies have been falling over each other to sign him. Beal has found a home with Hot Charity, a new label from XL Recordings in the UK, which has, among others, the Horrors, the xx, and Vampire Weekend in its stable. Not bad for a night porter in a hotel with just a handful of lo-fi demos to his name.
On 19 March Willis Earl Beal makes his debut with Acousmatic Sorcery, a collection of raw reflections on ennui, fear, and death. Will he give the blues a new kick-start, like the White Stripes before him? His broken-pots-and-pans sound may be too stripped-down for that. But his voice is so big that, on its own, it can blow you away. Go see this rough diamond before he gets polished.

Willis Earl Beal 16/3, 20.00, HUIS 23, Steenstraat 23 rue des Pierres, Brussel/Bruxelles,
www.abconcerts.be