(April 30, 2025) Eli Paperboy Reed is celebrating 20 years of making soulful music with the re-release of his very first album, Sings Walkin’ And Talkin’ And Other Smash Hits! The set was originally recorded in a basement studio in Allston, Massachusetts, all live to analog tape in mono and pressed as a limited run of 300 CDs in 2005. This self-released CD was mostly sold while Reed busked on the streets of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass in his early 20s.
The first disc of the newly remastered double LP reissue will contain the original tracks from the album, plus four additional tracks recorded the same December day in 2004. The second disc contains a session recorded for WHRB radio at Harvard University in 2005. The single deluxe CD will contain all of the songs featured on the deluxe LP.
This deluxe set presents Reed’s humble beginnings in Boston by way of Mississippi and Chicago, playing his own rough and ready interpretations of down-home blues, R&B and gospel. With this 20th anniversary release and the celebration of two decades of legendary live performances, Reed cements himself as an elder statesman of the genre. To further mark the milestone, Reed will be touring with a full band playing music from that first album in addition to his vast catalog.
The latest single from this set is “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry,” an impassioned, soulful blues take on the O.V. Wright original. American Blues Scene says of the track, “With a Stax-era touch, Mississippi soul, and church emotion, Reed’s voice moves from beautifully executed restraint to fervent release, delivering the song with reverence and reverberation — all filtered through an analog-drenched sound that evokes the very traditions that shaped his earliest days onstage.”
Eli Paperboy Reed’s new album Sings Walkin’ And Talkin’ And Other Smash Hits! will be available June 6th on vinyl, CD and digital via Yep Roc Records. The album is available for pre-order now, and the first two singles from it “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry” and “Stop Talking In Your Sleep (Radio Session)” are out now on all digital/streaming platforms.
