New UMP signing Willis Earl Beal has certainly not followed a conventional path into the music industry. Hailing from Chicago, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he began singing to help him get by whilst he was sleeping rough and job hunting. He salvaged an ad hoc assortment of instruments from flea markets, including old acoustic guitars, a lap harp and a drum kit made from pots and pans. Whilst he was busking he stuck his hand drawn flyers up all around the city, and one of them eventually found its way onto the cover of a magazine, piquing interest in both his music and his curious artwork.

The music he created in Albuquerque forms Willis Earl Beal’s debut album ‘Acousmatic Sorcery’ released on Hot Charity / XL on 2nd April 2012. It’s a stripped down collection of blues and soul with a raw unpolished charm. ‘Evening’s Kiss’, the first single from the album, was inspired by an unrequited love in a diner and scribbled on a napkin, and has a video animated by Willis himself.

His unique sound and capitivating back story have stirred the interest of the music press and won him plenty of new fans, with GQ magazine declaring; “Willis Earl Beal is the sort of singer who emerges out of nowhere... with a bag full of poetry and voice to weep over.”