Check Out Fort Worth’s Own Leon Bridges on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
The fraternity of North Texas musicians who’ve performed a song on a late-night talk show is a small one. And, naturally, the one featuring people who’ve performed twice on late-night is even smaller. But musicians who’ve performed twice on the the late-night circuit before their debut album was even released? Well, that’s a fraternity of one.
Yes, Leon Bridges really is something else.
After making his late-night debut with a performance of “Better Man” on The Late Late Show with James Corden back in March during that still-new host’s opening week, Bridges returned to the late-night circuit last night, and on an even bigger stage, as he hit The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform the iPhone-approved “Coming Home.”
Jimmy Fallon’s thoughts on the performance? “Fantastic!”
OK, but that guy loves everything. Still, he’s not wrong. This was a confident performance from Bridges, and one that followed a string of shows back here in his home market — two release shows at Fort Worth’s Scat Jazz Lounge on Saturday and another in Dallas on Thursday at Sons of Hermann Hall — that, intentional or not, prepped him well for this stage. In turn, he and his band — a smaller outfit this time around — both sound and look the part here.
Speaking of that band, here’s who’s in it for this showing: White Denim’s Austin Jenkins and former The Orbans member Kenny Wayne are on guitar; Quaker City Night Hawks’ Andrew Skates is on bass; White Denim’s Joshua Block is on drums; Jeff Dazey, who’s in too many bands to count, is on sax; and that’s Brittni Jessie on backup vocals.
Meanwhile, the timing of this performance couldn’t be better: Leon Bridges’ debut Coming Home LP earns its official release on Columbia today.