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Once again, two-time Grammy-nominated artist, Eric Roberson hit the stage and he did not disappoint at all.

I had the pleasure of covering his show on Friday night at the Baltimore Soundstage located at 124 Market Pl, Baltimore, MD 21202 and I was yet again blown away by what a fantastic performance it was. I saw him perform about a month ago in Atlanta, and I realized that he has a few signature things that are apart of all his shows that are fan favorites, I included. My experience started backstage when I got a chance to see him getting in the zone and prepared for the show with his band. They all got together in a tight circle and said a prayer before going on stage, what a very euphoric sight to see.

Eric Roberson is currently promoting his new EP’s Earth, Wind, and Fire so he performed a few of his new songs. One of my favorites was a song he wrote to his song titled “Superman” off of his Earth album. In the song he encourages them to love the skin they’re in and spread their wings and be great. Another great song was “Claire” from his Wind album written because of his childhood crush on Clair Huxtable, tv mom on the legendary Cosby Show.

Though he had new music to promote he definitely did not short us when it came to performing the classics that we all initially fell in love with him for. Like “Can I Borrow You” and “Picture Perfect”, the extended version… “Jealous of ya jeans girl cause they can rub your long legs” I LOVE THAT EXTENDED PART! What’s always really great about that part is that the musical breakdown is always different and unique. One time it had a little slow sexy Jazz feel to it, and another time there was a bit of an old-school R&B bump to it. No matter how he and his band choose to switch it up, it always comes out perfect, picture perfect you might even say.

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ARLINGTON, VA, June 8, 2018 — The Art Institute of Washington, a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta, is pleased to announce that Grammy-nominated R&B singer and songwriter, Eric Robeson, will be the keynote speaker at its 2018 commencement. The ceremony is scheduled to take place on Monday, June 18, 2018 at 10 a.m. at Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Roberson is known as a singer, songwriter, and producer who continues to break boundaries as an independent artist in an industry dominated by major labels, manufactured sounds and mainstream radio. Described as the original pioneer of the independent movement in R&B/soul music, Roberson has achieved major milestones in his career, from being a successful songwriter and producer for notable artists such as Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Vivian Green and countless others, as well as headlining sold out tours across the country.

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AJ Williams, Michigan Chronicle City.Life.Style Editor

DRIVEN: A Tribute to Multicultural Achievement in the Automotive Industry returns this year for its eighth year with an experience which includes the publication, a youth symposium focused on careers in the industry, and an unveiling/awards celebration of diversity.

Ahead of his performance at culminating event, Eric Roberson chopped it up with City.Life.Style. on his return back to Detroit.

“Detroit is one of the first cities to embrace me as an artist. Not only have I gotten the chance to perform on countless stages there, but I have also had great people show me how amazing Detroit is. So I am looking forward to enjoying Detroit again on and off stage.” Said, Roberson.

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BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

Correspondent

Eric Roberson is waiting for the music game to be shaken up.

The veteran indie-soul singer/songwriter has made it quite far releasing his own music without help from a major label. But he knows that it takes hard work to make sure people are aware of his music.

“Just the other day, I was doing a songwriting workshop with kids and they were talking about labels and stuff like that,” says Roberson, 43, calling from Philadelphia. “I said, ‘Well, you can get your music on (the internet). Everywhere I put my music at, you can get your music on it. But how will people know it’s on there is a part of the business that you have to fine-tune.’ ”

The New Jersey-born-and-based Roberson is also bracing for another sea change to happen in the music biz.

“With technology changing right now, I think we’re all in a purgatory,” he says, laughing. “We’re all just waiting to see what the next transition’s gonna be. I think there’s gonna be another major technology shift in the near future. I just really feel that. I think, at the same time, we have now completely entered into a subscription-type business. All the mom-and-pop stores, unfortunately, are closing or have closed. The big chains ... it’s even further down in the priority list. I know, for me, it’s not important for me to be in a Best Buy or a Target anymore. It’s a waste of time, to be honest.”

This is why Roberson is offering more to his fans than just music. This year, he has been releasing the “Earth, Wind and Fire” trilogy of EPs – “Earth” dropped earlier this year, while “Wind” came out just last Friday. “Fire” is slated for October. But the EPs are just part of a bigger, multimedia bundle Roberson has for audiences. For $35, Roberson is selling what he calls “The Process,” where you not only get digital and hard copies of the EPs, but also weekly updates where you hear the music created each week, monthly Facebook Live sessions with Roberson, a private Facebook group where fans can talk about the music and discount offers on future merchandise.

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By Melody Charles

Eric Roberson - Wind

For every heart-tugging, tear-inducing ode to relationships, there are just as many peeling back the curtains on the dark side of love: “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Woman to Woman,” “As We Lay,” and, of course, practically every drop of Beyonce’s Lemonade. It can be a struggle to put together, and damaging when it falls apart, so when a performer old enough to wear the battle scars of love can still wax rhapsodic about it all, taking you back to your first crush, rosy beginnings and the sugar-sweet promises of ‘happily ever after,’ you’ve got to embrace it. That’s what Eric Roberson conjures up, and delivers, in his latest EP, Wind.

The second in a trilogy of empowerment-themed releases (following his spring release, Earth), Roberson’s Wind certainly has a supple, soothing pace throughout, with lingering melodies that rise, fall and spin like a breeze. His compositions still pack substance within, idealizing love while examining and questioning its motives and contents. “Sky As Green,” for instance, finds Erro’s character acknowledging his own sharp edges and wondering if anyone will one day accept what he brings to the table: “Open up your mind, give me part of the time/open up your mind, just a little bit of love would be fine,” he croons over a foundation of horns and keys. “…I’m just searching for something that will last.” 

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Eric Roberson - Earth (2017)

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. (1 Corinthians, 11:13)

Paul wrote this guidance on the transition into adulthood two millennia ago, and we live on a planet of seven billion people who still struggle with it today. And if it is tough for those of us out of the limelight, it is particularly difficult for entertainers, working in an industry where attraction to youth is virtually reflexive. So we often hear from familiar artists whose years of experience provides them with something to say, but who instead spend too much time chasing elusive popular trends – a typically unsuccessful chase that shortchanges their artistry. There is a cultural thesis that underlies this chase: that the immaturity and impulsiveness of youth is exciting, and that the perspective and emerging selflessness that come from aging, parenting and mentoring is akin to irrelevance and unhappiness.

So it is refreshing to hear Earth, the first leg of the EP trilogy that Eric Roberson plans to issue throughout this year. Now approaching a dozen albums into his career, Roberson has always been a man of our time, and importantly a man of his time, consistently providing fresh grooves that hint of R&B, hip-hop and gospel, even as he sometimes transparently and sometimes opaquely tells the real story of life.

Those who have lived a life will stop cold for cut #5, "The Hospital Song." With a gentle piano and one of the most subdued vocals of Roberson's recorded career, the song captures, in three and a half minutes, the cycle of life and family - and the building where they come together: "A hospital is a big old box / filled with joys and pain / one whose life is ending / another whose begins." It is a show stopper on his current tour, and the studio gives it an even more ethereal feel. In its soul, it is a 19th century spiritual brought forward to the world of 2017, and it works beautifully.

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Eric Roberson is so low-key that if you sat next to the guy in a coffee shop you may not realize that you were sitting next to a human jukebox of hit records. Also known as Erro, he has written, produced, and done background vocals for the likes of Jill Scott, 112, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Carl Thomas, Will Smith, Vivian Green, and Charlie Wilson.

After years of writing, recording, performing, and touring Roberson manages to find new ways to creatively elevate the way fans receive his music. His Earth + Wind + Fire EP trilogy was announced in February, and he released Earth in April. Roberson created “The Process” to go along with his trilogy; an experience that gives fans an inside look into the creation of all three projects. Fans who are a part of “The Process” are able to watch songs as they are being created and provide feedback in a private Facebook group.

Roberson talked to The Boombox to discuss his project and his seventeen-year career as an independent artist and life after fatherhood.

What does each album in the trilogy represent?

Each one means something different: Earth was inspired by conversations with my grandfather. It’s very internal, how to be a better person, how to find my truth–my personal truth. And then Wind is more of an action album, it’s more acting out my love. My love for family, my love for my wife, romance, or just the good and bad of surviving, and keeping love alive.

Love is “roll up your sleeves and make it work.” I think Fire, which I can’t really speak much on because I haven’t created it yet. But as I create it, I’m guessing that’s more external, like how much I want the world to be better. How much I want to understand the stuff that I’m uncomfortable with. I’m writing a song right now called, “Slave Owners,” and it’s about walking around with pockets filled with slave owners–from the dollar bills to the twenty dollar bills–and just how we have to be comfortable with that.

My great-great-great grandfather was a slave in a town over from where my grandfather lives at. How we have to be comfortable with some of the negative histories on the land that we love and that gives us so much opportunity.

How has traveling to other countries and seeing different cultures influenced your music?

First, traveling to other countries reminds you that you’re small, which is something that my grandfather used to say. I recently went to Cuba, I did a soul cruise and I think [with] Fire especially you’re going to hear the influences of the culture that we saw in Cuba.

But even going to South Africa…that’s the beautiful thing about soul music, when you go to South Africa you’re not going to be the same person when you come home. When you go to Seattle you’re not going to be the same person when you come home. You have to be truthful and write about how you feel no matter what that scenario is.

Walking in your truth can be hard to do in the music business. How have you been able to walk firmly in your truth?

I made a choice very early on that who I was offstage I was going to be onstage and vice versa. I think I’ve stayed true to it, I think the challenge really came when I started having kids. The funny thing about the music business is that you are guaranteed to have a big show that’s going to happen on your son’s birthday. And you have to make a decision right there, are you going to take the gig, or are you going to be there for your child’s birthday? I’m going to be there for my kids birthday–period.

I don’t need a million dollars to be happy. Sure it would be great to have it and we would be balling out if we did but it’s not gonna be what brings me peace nor is it what’s going to bring me happiness. So let me focus on what’s going to bring me happiness and peace, and be satisfied and work hard for the money I do have. I appreciate being an independent artist and if I was signed to a Def Jam, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be myself.

What made you transition from songwriting to creating your own music?

I started out as a songwriter because the other options were drying up. I realized you can make a living being a songwriter and there were these other opportunities. And for me I was just trying to survive in the music business–I wanted to be around the music business. Whether that was being a background singer, songwriter, vocal producer, or an artist. I think for me the artist thing started happening for me again when I started writing songs that I didn’t want to sell.

When it got too personal, when I  wrote a song about my hopes and fears, and who I was in love with it was hard to give those songs away. It felt like I was literally handing you my journal, I think I was always an artist though. Even when I was writing a song in the studio and just demoing it, I was still performing, so it wasn’t a big change to become an artist.