As a twenty-something newcomer Ryan Bingham sounded like a veteran. The young roots-rock star sang, “I’ve been a desperado in West Texas for so long, Lord, I need a change,” on his debut album Mescalito. Turns out Bingham’s claim wasn’t false or hyperbole. Born in New Mexico, Bingham spent years bull-riding and busking and sleeping in the back of a pickup truck. He eventually pulled together a band, the Dead Horses, and the group forged a hard-driving sound that thrilled honky-tonk and rock types alike. Mescalito announced the arrival of a singular talent. Bingham’s dusty tales were full of drifters and dreamers and he sang with the parched voice of a guy in the desert. Roadhouse Sun followed in 2009 along with more touring. Veteran Texan singer-songwriters like Joe Ely and Terry Allen vouched for the talented young man, and before long he was offered the chance to work with esteemed producer T. Bone Burnett on a soundtrack for the independent film Crazy Heart.

The film’s lead performance by Jeff Bridges and its songs, including Bingham’s “The Weary Kind,” led to widespread acclaim. Bingham and Burnett earned both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for “The Weary Kind.” Not one to mess with a winning formula, Bingham tapped Burnett to produce his third record, Junky Star, due this fall.

While Bingham’s roots seem to be in the storytelling Americana tradition, his gruff expressive voice isn’t lacking soul. He’s clearly spent time listening to the great gospel-tinged Southern soul singers. And among those gospel-tinged Southern soul singers, the late great Otis Redding was king. The Georgia native practically defined soul in the 1960s with his live wire performances and his warm and gritty vocals on songs like “Ole Man Trouble,” “Hard to Handle” and “Try a Little Tenderness.” A plane crash in 1967 cut short the career of one of popular music’s most amazing singers but Redding left behind some of the greatest music of the century. His “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” a cover song itself originally performed by O.V. Wright and written by Jamison Roosevelt, never hit the pop charts, but the spare soulful song about commitment is a perfect fit for Bingham’s impassioned voice.