JAKE QUILLIN

R&B fusionist – Quillin recently released a new track, “Running,” where he takes his first steps away from the traditional Delta blues/R&B that occupied the sound on his debut full-length LP, Stormy Weather. While hip-hop and Delta blues might sound incompatible to most ears, Quillin feels comfortable in either skin and intends for his sophomore album (tentatively titled Texas Medicine) to span the range between the two, with producer Jason Burt helming the bluesier material and Michael Ferguson producing the more “out-there” tracks, such as “Running.”

Coming after Stormy Weather, “Running” is a slight shock to the system. The former is a stark, practically one-man blues-soul show that might get algorithmically recommended to listeners of Ray Lamontagne, and the latter feels like a distant cousin of a track from Khalid’s debut LP. For Quillin, the idea that all genres are connected goes back to his idol Jimi Hendrix.

“He helped me realize how universal blues music is, and he showed me it’s OK to not know your place in the world,” Quillin says. “Seeing how he put his struggles and frustrations into music was huge for me.”