Journeyman soul shouter Lee Fields specialized in James Brown-style funk before he broke through with a more personal style that found a following in the retro-soul movement. He first made his name in the '70s with hard-hitting singles. After a lengthy hiatus, Fields returned in the '90s as a soul-blues belter while interest in lesser-known vintage funk was reaching a new peak. He emerged as the leading light of the so-called deep funk movement with Let's Get a Groove On (1998), the first in a series of recordings that often equaled, and sometimes outdid, his early work. Their success allowed him to expand his creative palette with a series of soul-oriented albums, ranging from My World (2009) to It Rains Love (2019), on which he was backed by the Expressions. Past a half-century of activity, Fields has continued into the 2020s with the Daptone release Sentimental Fool (2022).