Originally posted 11/12/2010

This is a must hear interview for any fan of great music. GFM is proud to bring you Pt.1 of our two-part interview with JoJo McDuffie the former lead singer of The Mary Jane Girls. In Pt. 1 we discuss JoJo’s new album Slightly Dangerous her beginnings in Buffalo, the fateful meeting with Rick James, the real deal behind The Mary Jane Girls and more!

Special thank you to Robert Funderburg for putting this interview together.

JoJo McDuffie Interview by GrownFolksMusic

Grammy award-winning singer and lead member of the group Brownstone talks with Cise TV as part of its Organic Soul Collection interview series about her new album, producing new shows and more.

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Source: Cise TV

I wanted to share an excerpt of this great interview with Robert Glasper from last October that I ran across last evening. Please check out this clip and follow it on over to you tube to check out more from this interview and others in the series from http://IRockJazz.com.

What rings so true now is how Robert explains that because of the corporate stranglehold and in many ways the inability of the audience to be: 1. Open to new music(because of said stranglehold) and 2. Seek out new methods of finding out about new music away from the, you guessed it, corporate sponsored media outlets… artists aren’t even given an opportunity to “suck” because you cannot effectively comment on something that you don’t even know exists.

To that point Robert has a new project that will be out February 28th entitled Black Radio.

GFM recently chatted with South African singing sensation LIRA. LIRA is currently preparing for her first full length US debut Feel Good which is slated to be released this year.

GFM: The musical heading Afro-Soul is incredibly intriguing, could you tell us more about the concept and how you arrived at it as the label for your music?

LIRA: My music is influenced by American Soul music like Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. However it is also influenced by some jazz and latin based grooves and the Afro element is in the use of African languages. This results in sultry, celebratory, inspirational and music which is good the soul. (more…)

SoundWorks Collection: Composer Zack Hemsey from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Hopefully in the new year we will be posting more great interviews like this one where you can see how artists and composers are making their way in the new music industry.

From SoundWorksCollection.com:

To describe the work and success of 27-year old composer and music producer Zack Hemsey is to describe the current state of music. Inventive. Dedicated. Original.

Zack represents the up-and-coming talent who are working “in the box” using software like Apple Logic.
(more…)

Great in-depth interview from good folks over at You Know I Got Soul with the one and only Uncle Charlie…

Despite his immense talent and timeless voice, it hasn’t always come easy for Uncle Charlie Wilson. Dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, bouts of homelessness, and then struggling to find a deal for years before recently having to beat cancer, the man has had his fair share of hardship. (more…)

Common explains how he has outlasted other artists through maintaining integrity in his music.

Common’s recently released album The Dreamer/The Believer is available on iTunes

Source: VladTV

Out Da Box TV catches up with the Indie hip-hop group Tanya Morgan. The group members talk about the upcoming project, what they learned from their solo projects and they keep real about whether or not artists should keep their day jobs. Enjoy.

Source: Out Da Box TV

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