 |
Soul
singer/guitarist Anthony David is probably your favorite singer’s
favorite singer. The songwriter and guitarist may have been bubbling on
the soul scene’s underground for years, but it was his beautiful duet,
“Words” featuring longtime friend, India.Arie, that made radio,
Universal Republic and finally, the Grammys come calling.
What were you doing when you heard you got nominated for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals?
I was actually sitting on the computer and I got an email. Right after
I read the email my manager, Richard Dunn knocked on my door, and he
was downstairs. Then we got to drinking [laughing].
Crown Royal and coke?
Of course! That’s our drink. Both of our daddy’s drank that. That’s
classic old school. Everybody knows about the Crown and coke.
So, you’re not going to the actual Grammy’s but you’re having a party in Atlanta?
Yes, I’m not going. I’ve been to the Grammy’s a couple of times before
with India.Arie for her stuff and all the nominations she’s had. I
wanted my family to come but it started getting expensive. And I have
things to do around here– I’m trying to get another record done and
all that. Plus, India couldn’t come either, so I just decided to stay
here, my family could come here and we could just kick it. Café Circa,
those are my buddies, I just figured it’d be a good time to get
together with the Atlanta scene and celebrate it that way.
The song you’re nominated for, “Words” is so beautifully written and sung. Can you share the process of how it came about?
That song “Words”-the process was similar to what I’ve been going
through lately. I was just walking the streets and it was probably
early spring and [I was] just feeling the good feeling of the warm
weather coming back. The beat was there and the melody was there and I
came back in with that feeling and made a beat behind it. I had maybe
one or two words at first. I tried to make it one thing but it ended up
being something else. As far as India is involved, I gave her the demo
of it and right off she liked it, but she thought it was too short.
That’s an area where we really see alike, musically and
philosophically, so she jumped on there and her verse actually tied my
verses together.
For a while people were sleeping on the song.
I still think people are sleeping on it really. But I’m glad that there
are some people that are aware of it. It’s bringing a lot of awareness
to me and what I do so I like it. The song reminds me of something by
Seal or Lionel Ritchie or Babyface, which are some of my favorite pop
R&B writers. Do you feel like people are still sleeping on you?
Yeah, a little bit. But I’ve been taking the road less traveled. I’ve
been independent. I’ve been on a major. It’s not like majors still have
the same influence that they had, so it’s a bit of a weird period for
music right now as far as awareness. But certain artists that I like, I
feel like I’m in their echelon and I want to be seen that way so that’s
just more work for me to do. I like John Legend. I think he’s good in
that vein and Estelle. This year, I’ll admit, I was getting jealous,
because I was like man, I should be out there with them. And I am, but
not. So there’s more to do and I guess I can take it as a challenge.
But, I’m into it.
Talk about your relationship with India. I know you had a major influence on her in the beginning.
We started music together so I guess you could say we have a cross
influence upon each other. She was always a singer. Even though I
didn’t hear her sing for a little while, but she was always like, I’m
going to be a singer. So she had that drive and that motivated me. When
we got into music, we liked the same music we share a lot of the same
music, we started playing guitar so we’d share liks and lessons with
each other. She’s my sister so it’s just been a great and really kind
of a divine relationship and a divine kinship.
Does it bring it full circle that you’re nominated with her?
Yes, it totally brings it full circle that I’m nominated for a song
with her on top of it. We started in a little tiny room, like
literally, just two people and we said stuff like this. The song
“Words” has its love theme to it for other people, but for us it’s like
the fact that we spoke about something and then it came into existence.
It’s like unreal.
Did getting a deal change your career?
No. Getting a deal is an extension of my career. Honestly, like Erykah
Badu made this phrase up, about being independent minded. You’re always
independent because you could drop anytime. But there’s networks and
access that majors have that I needed and that was part of our
exchange. It was just a step to that direction for this period of time.
It’s the same as somebody that works at a corporation but they really
hustle and do their own thing but they needed to be with this company
to get the resources that they have. I would hope that if you’re an
independent entrepreneur the corporation that you take a job with is
something that you do on your own as well. That’s how I look at it.
They had some resources that I needed. This that a phase in my life. I
might end up with a label forever, I doubt it. But I don’t know. Right
now I got a good team of people that I’m working with and I like it.
You can’t talk about the Atlanta scene without mentioning you. As far
as the Atlanta scene, I’m a little piece of it. It’s a great scene and
the fact that you would give me that compliment it’s like. all I ever
wanted to do was be a part of it. And all I really want to do is
display the influence that it had on me to the rest of the world. From
the first time seeing Lil Jon at Chronicle play and the Yin Yang back
in the day to going to Funk Jazz Café to seeing Dionne Farris and David
Ryan Harris play. Then getting involved in the band El Pus. I started
playing music by watching people here. I started doing poetry by
watching people here. I’ve been influenced by a billion artists that
people ain’t never heard of and some that you might have heard of. So
my biggest ambition as an artist is really just to share that aspect of
Atlanta’s culture that people really don’t see. We all see the snap and
all that and that’s good. I came here basically because of TLC and
Arrested Development. So we have so many things that we offer in the
city, I just want to stick my flag up for this part of it.
Do ever feel frustrated by Atlanta radio and urban radio in general? Do you feel that they’re supportive enough?
On one hand I can say, yeah. On the other hand, [the radio station]
V-103 played my song before I had a deal and was actually responsible
for me getting my deal. But at the same time, I know radio has their
politics and it’s an old network or whatever. I think some people try
but I think there could be more room for more soul music. I think
that’s a better music format to be programming during the day when
people are at work anyway. So yeah, there’s room for improvement. I
deejay sometimes down at Circa and different places and I get to play
new soul music. I have my own ideas and tastes of what people should
hear and it’s not necessarily aligned with the radio.
Do you think the influence of radio is dying?
Yes. There’s satellite radio out there. There’s the internet. I
personally don’t listen to the radio that much. I listen to the
internet, I go to blogs and check out what’s supposed to be new.
There’s not a lot of talk before it, it’s just the song. So I can
decide whether or not I like that song or not. If you don’t want all
the programming to hit you in the face, I suggest you go look for music
that way.
What are some of the sites you go to when you’re looking for music?
I’m a hip-hop head so I check allhiphop.com, sohh.com and even
worldstarhiphop.com— that’s poison though. But on the soul side,
soulbounce.com, soultracks.com and concreteloop.com.
So what’s up with the new stuff?
I’m still trying to find a direction, I’m just doing stuff. Everyone
one of my records I try to extract a different aspect of my character.
The first record, Three Chords and the Truth was an acoustic album the
second, Red Clay Chronicles was more of an R&B driven album and I’m
still kind of in that vein. I want to converge them a little more. I’m
not really sure. I’m just making stuff and then we’ll see what happens.
I like beats, so I want to add something else to that chapter before I
make an all out acoustic album again.
As an artist who has thrived off of live shows, can you talk to some of the other artists about how important they are?
Live shows for an artist like me, and this can transfer across the
board, are a huge part of sustaining yourself. I think hip-hop artists
can take note too. Hip-hop got to be as big as it was because Run DMC
was bold enough to take the stage with Cameo, so they still had to put
routines together. But live shows are how I survived. That’s what got
me to where I am now. As an independent artist, I wasn’t on the radio,
so I had to find a way to get in people’s faces. I’ve probably done
more live shows than the number one ringtone rapper or whatever. And
I’ve been eating off of that a longer amount of time than they have or
will be and probably made, over time, the same amount of money. So
that’s key. I think Jay-Z grew up like that, and part of his big
success is that he’s been on the road as a show. He don’t just show up
to the club and do a song, have a drink with everybody and roll out. He
decided to make a stage show and Kanye as well. Live shows can separate
you from being a fly by night thing.
What are the best ‘words’ a woman has ever told you?
Oh wow. For me, shoot. I’m easy, man. Just laugh at my little stupid jokes and I’m cool.
If you were stranded on an island and you could only take one CD with you what would it be?
Well, what’s coming to mind right now is Marvin Gaye, Here My Dear. But
that’s an outdated question because we got i-pods now. I’ll just roll
with that and I’m straight. –jacinta howard
If
you’re in the Atlanta area, make sure that you stop by Café Circa at 6
p.m. on Sunday for Anthony David’s Grammy celebration party. RSVP at [email protected].
