World Cafe, May 26, 2008 - Blue-eyed soul virtuoso Eli "Paperboy" Reed may have grown up in Massachusetts, but he conveys the heart-wrenching emotion of Southern predecessors such as Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding.

Reed, along with his seven-piece band True Loves, just finished a month-long tour, sharing dates with the alt-pop band Say Anything. While the combination may seem odd, Reed says that soul music breaks all barriers, because its purpose is to "make people feel something."