If you're looking for a blues and soul singer to shake up your expectations, you couldn't do much better than Chicago-born Willis Earl Beal.

Beal's untrained voice is raw, urgent and fearless. This 29-year-old has something to say and will not be denied. At the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2012, he appeared with only a reel-to-reel tape machine, but he commanded the crowd. Seeing him offstage, you might be surprised by his average size. Onstage, he looms large.

Willis Earl Beal once worked security at Willis Tower when it was still Sears Tower. After a stint in the army, he wound up in New Mexico, in and out of jobs and places to live. He posted handmade flyers advertising for a girlfriend, and recorded music and poetry on a karaoke machine. His flyers were discovered by Found magazine, and Beal earned a recording deal. He talks a lot about destiny and the eye of the universe, and claims to be “a sorcerer not a musician."

He can also be a loose cannon. This once homeless man was arrested in the Netherlands last year for kicking a homeless man who "disrespected my music.”

Willis Earl Beal's new recording, "Nobody Knows," was released last week on XL Recordings. He opened his tour in Chicago earlier this month and soon heads to Europe, but he'll be return soon.

In the meantime, sample his new soul-pop tune "Coming Through" (sung with Cat Power):

And "Too Dry to Cry," the kind of ramshackle blues that might make Tom Waits envious: