On Tuesday afternoon in Fort Worth, singer Leon Bridges stood at the corner of Calhoun Street and Daggett Avenue, tugging on a rope that uncovered a newly-minted sign bearing his name.
The son of Panther City, dressed in his usual debonair Western style, stood back and looked up at the plaque as a cadre of photographers documented the moment.
Fort Worth musician Leon Bridges stands in front of a street sign honoring him during a ceremony, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
It was here — or rather right across the street — that Bridges stepped into Niles City Sound over a decade ago and recorded Coming Home, the album that would launch him into the public eye.
The breakout project, which contained old-school, soul-inflected love songs and wistful explorations around family, would later receive a Grammy nomination.
“This moment holds so much gravity,” Bridges said before the sign was unveiled. “It’s so surreal to be immortalized right where I started.”
“Fort Worth is my place of refuge,” he later told reporters. “A lot of artists when they get success, they move out of their city. I’ve still kept Fort Worth home.”
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A street sign honoring musician Leon Bridges is seen, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
At the event on Tuesday, local officials sang his praises. Tom Martens, director of the Fort Worth music office, said a Bridges song is a requisite for any city-themed playlist.
The city also honored Bridges last fall, when Mayor Mattie Parker surprised him at his Dickies Arena show, declaring that day, Nov. 15, “Leon Bridges Day.” Parker reminisced on that sold-out show on Tuesday, calling it “one of the most special concerts” she had attended.
“The feeling in that arena was palpable,” she said, because “we are all so proud that Leon was one of us. That he really did come home.”
Leon Bridges to be honored with street sign in Fort Worth today
The sign will be unveiled near where the Grammy-winning singer recorded his breakout first album.
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The British pop star performed at American Airlines Center on Tuesday and Wednesday for her ‘Radical Optimism’ tour.
As the sign was shown outside, Bridges’ parents, Lisa Sawyer and Wallace Bridges, beamed in the crowd.
“The first time I heard Leon sing, he was about five years old,” the elder Bridges told The Dallas Morning News. “We had just rented the movie Lion King. I left the room and next thing you know he’s going ‘Hakuna Matata.’ I was like ‘Oh my God, this boy can sing.’”
Wallace Bridges, who joked that he took about 30 or 40 photographs of the street sign, said an image of the plaque will rest on his deck at home.
Musician Leon Bridges talks with his father, Wallace Bridges, before a ceremony dedicating a street sign to Leon Bridges, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer