Willis Earl Beal: Evening’s Kiss

I don’t know much of Willis Earl Beal’s music, but I remember seeing this video a while ago. I didn’t notice at first how he’s using a toothpick to play the guitar, and essentially just using one or two strings at the most. For as minimal as the style is, his voice definitely picks up the slack.

Towards the end he gets very emotional, and verges on breaking down and crying. I keep going back and forth on how I feel about it – at times, it’s super uncomfortable to watch; at other times, I’m in awe of how he fights against his emotions, and gathers himself to finish the song.

Recently, Beal came out with a new album and I’ve listened to a little of it, on and off. So far, I still think that Evening’s Kiss is my favorite song of his that I’ve heard so far… but I tend to get fixated on specific songs, so we’ll see how long that holds true.

Interestingly, Beal is a Chicago native and actually has a connection to Found Magazine. For more background, check out this Reader article about him, from 2011.

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