Marc Broussard

It's just ten minutes from Marc Broussard's hometown of Carencro, Louisiana to Lafayette. He makes the journey from Lafayette to the heights of the music world seem equally short.

Broussard's high octane take-off uses no formula at all. Instead he offers a blend of abilities, styles and enthusiasms uniquely adapted to himself on his debut album, Carencro. He calls himself "a white boy singing soul music," but that's deceptive because his music draws from everything he's absorbed. "I feel like I've melded a bunch of things together that people haven't focused on for a long time." In his songs can be heard influences and accents ranging from soul men like Stevie Wonder and Brian McKnight to Louisiana icons like Johnny Allan and G.G. Shin to road warriors like Dave Matthews.

What the 24-year-old Broussard takes from all of this is a sense of craft and above all, great depth of feeling. That's what makes him so soulful. Well, that and his husky baritone with a range similar to Wonder, or another influence, Donny Hathaway. Like them, Broussard moves up and down the scales without any sign of effort. The hard work he puts into his music isn't meant to show. When it comes to music, Broussard is like a bayou rendition of The Natural.