Independent R&B pioneer Eric Roberson continues to fearlessly chart his own course, proving that a decades-long career can still be defined by the thrill of discovery. In this exclusive YouKnowIGotSoul interview, Roberson sits down to discuss the creation of his new album and accompanying book, Beautifully All Over the Place. He opens up about how his artistic process served as a vital healing tool during a challenging family period and explains the deep faith required to constantly release new music on his own terms. YouKnowIGotSoul: I feel like you’re still not at your peak. Like your movement keeps getting bigger, which to me, after so long, to sit back and watch is so admirable because a lot of artists, they peak and then they fade out after a short time. You’re still building, which I just love to see it because it’s still well-deserved. Man, how are you able to keep this movement going? Eric Roberson: I think just still being excited. You know, I think, you know, things change enough. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten it figured out. So, you know, I think the art of discovery is probably just as much as important as the art of creativity. I’m always discovering new things. So, I’m excited about it, right? I never, you know, never really stop and think about whether something’s going to be successful or not. It’s more about, you know, just getting it done. It’s funny. We were in the studio yesterday and we’re working on the audio book for the book I just released. And some of the music under it was a song called “Doubt” that I released sometime last year, if not the year before. And it was a complete miss. Like it, it didn’t, it didn’t really garner any real attention, but the song had ministered to me as well as like Brett in the studio and our circle so much that it already won. It already did his job. It was more like, okay, well, let’s just share it with the world now. And I think that’s, that’s a perfect example of, and we’ve talked about that yesterday when we heard the songs like, oh golly, man, this song, I love this song. We were like, man, it didn’t do anything when we released it to the world, but it gave me so much satisfaction and clarity personally. So, you know, I recently said something, I was like, Hey, you make a living on what works. You don’t take personal, what doesn’t. And the crazy thing is stuff that doesn’t work still can like, sometimes it’s just for the day I created it, you know, to get me through a storm or whatever. So every piece of things I’m working on, whether I’m drawing something, writing something, producing something, it’s just another level of discovery that might lead to a hit song that might lead to another book, might lead to a conversation with you. I don’t really get too lost in trying to judge it before I do it. I just love doing it, man. So I think you, yeah, you probably witnessed me still in discovery mode. YouKnowIGotSoul: It’s just great to watch your creativity and not just that, but moving in your own direction fearlessly just because no one else is doing it. So how are you able to just be so fearless like that? Eric Roberson: Faith, you know, I think it’s really, not even to get super religious, but I, you know, I think a lot of what I talk about the book, we’ve been doing these improv shows lately. When we get on stage is completely just with nothing. And we gotta keep your attention for two hours. How do we do it? I lean on you. I show you the, Hey, you’re in this with me and I’m going to have a conversation with you musically. And we’re going to find the night out, whether it’s laughs or whether it’s crying, whether it’s serious, whether somebody just got over cancer, somebody dealing with a bad child at home, whatever it is, we’re going to find it and we’re going to make this beautiful night. So what is that? It’s my personal belief that it already exists truly. It’s, and that’s the faith part. It’s like, I believe that my purpose is already laid out for me. It’s just my job to follow it. I believe the songs already written. It’s just my job to find it. The words already exist. The melodies already exist. The notes already here. We’re not, I don’t, I don’t know a person yet that’s created a new note yet. You know, like the notes have been here, right? The air we breathe has been here. The water we drink has been here. So it’s my goal to find it success or failure is my goal to find it. And I think that’s really, that’s really it. It’s not me trying to be a hard nose, like where everybody’s going that way. I’m going this way. It’s really, I get nudged. I get a feeling, I get goosebumps, the hair on my back, my neck raises up and I go, Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. And I do it, you know? And, and I tell you through time, you know, I’ve been in this business since 1994 and a lot hasn’t went right. So of course a lot went right, but a lot hasn’t went right. And out of the things that haven’t went right, I have more than likely nine times out of 10 gotten better because of it not working out. My team has gotten stronger. My voice has gotten stronger. My writing has gotten better. So once you know that I’m not so worried about the roof caving in on me, you know what I’m saying? I try to do right by others. I try to be fair. I try to
