“Love Is Too Strong”

Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch and guitarist Adam Smirnoff had an instrumental they had kept on Deitch’s computer for years. Then one night in Denver, outside a club, Deitch watched the young singer and guitarist Marcus King stop to help a woman living on the street, and heard him say the words that became this title. Deitch knew at once it was a song. He sent Marcus the music, and Marcus sent back lyrics and a melody. With Marcus singing, it landed on Lettuce’s 2019 album Elevate, recorded at a studio outside Denver. The album earned the funk band its first Grammy nomination, for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: a song born from a small kindness.