The title of Willie Clayton’s 2005 debut appearance on Malaco, The Last Man Standing (a reissue of a disc originally released on EndZone in 2002), was a statement of purpose as much as a boast: it reflected both his self-image and his reputation among longtime fans as a singer for whom upholding cherished soul values is a calling, as well as a calling card. Although Clayton’s babyfaced countenance, his supple voice with its mellifluous upper range and his willingness to incorporate modernist R&B and hip-hop influences into his studio production might seem to belie his “old school” claims, through the years he has mastered the art of looking fondly back and bravely forward, simultaneously avoiding the twin traps of trendiness and nostalgia. His vocal delivery, intense and smoldering with sensual heat, retains the church-honed graininess that characterized deep soul at its best, and he’s crafted a musical persona that rejects the pose of ironic detachment (so beloved of contemporary pop artists) in favor of emotional honesty.

Whether covering a classic like Johnnie Taylor’s Running Out of Lies (on 2006’s Gifted) or Ann Peebles’ I Can’t Stand the Rain (from Soul & Blues in 2008), or debuting fresh offerings destined to become standards in their own right (I Love Me Some You from The Last Man Standing; the smoldering Boom Boom Boom, also on Gifted; A Woman Knows, with its echoes of both Bobby “Blue” Bland and Johnnie Taylor, from 2008’s My Tyme), Clayton’s recordings have continually set and raised the bar for soul blues vocal excellence. As Johnnie Taylor was before him, he is the vocalist to whom virtually all male singers in the field are compared and whom they’re invariably accused of imitating, whether deservedly or not, when they tear off an especially expressive or soulful passage. Perhaps even more significantly, he’s managed to do it mostly on his own terms—he insists on retaining artistic control, selecting (and sometimes writing or co-writing) his own material, continually updating his production values to reflect contemporary tastes even as he remains true to the old-school soul sentiments and aesthetics he holds dear. His recordings are characterized by a deft fusion of vintage grit and modernist studio techniques, and his onstage persona—vulnerable, cocky and ironic—likewise combines the best of the church-honed soul tradition with an aggressive emotional bluntness that invokes hip-hop and contemporary R&B. Alongside programmed tracks and synthesizers, he flavors his songs with acoustic guitar lines, natural-sounding percussion fillips and other throwback reminders of soul music’s origins. His vocals, meanwhile, convey the timeless soul balance between sensuality and spirit.