[MUSIC]

[MUSIC - PJ Morton: Smoke and Mirrors]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It. I'm Kousha Navidar in for Alison Stewart, and you're listening to Smoke and Mirrors, the latest single from Grammy award-winning artist PJ Morton. If you take a look at PJ Morton's schedule, you're probably get a sense of how busy he is. You may know him as a keyboardist for the pop group Maroon 5. On top of that, Morton is a five-time Grammy award-winning independent musician. Plus, he's got his own record label and eight self-produced albums under his belt. Plus, during the pandemic, while many of us were working on some hobbies or maybe riding it out till we could socialize outside, Morton was busy at work.

He released three, yes, three albums. And if that wasn't enough, PJ Morton recently embarked on a new challenge. He went on a month-long trip around the African continent with one goal in mind, to write, record, and produce an album in 30 days. The result was an album that fuses his New Orleans roots, R&B, gospel, funk, and soul with the contemporary sounds from his ancestral home, dance hall, afrobeats, and more. He calls the album the diaspora in music form done my way.

On Friday, Morton will release that project. It's called From Cape Town to Cairo. He's also going on tour for that album later this summer. But before he embarks on that journey, we're in for a treat because to close out our show today, PJ Morton joins us in studio for a live unplugged performance. Hey, PJ. Welcome to All Of It.

PJ Morton: Hey, man. Good to be here. Thank you for having me.

Kousha Navidar: Great to have you here. Get us started with a song.

PJ Morton: All right, let's do it. Please Be Good. Three.

[MUSIC - PJ Morton: Please Be Good]

Kousha Navidar: Please Be Good.

PJ Morton: Please Be Good.

Kousha Navidar: R&B artist, PJ Morton. That was good.

PJ Morton: Oh, thank you, man. Thank you.

Kousha Navidar: Absolutely. Can you tell us a little bit more about what got you inspired to write that song?

PJ Morton: Yes. Well, that was-- It's funny, all the songs, I can go right to these locations, it's connected to these places. I was in Lagos, Nigeria, and I generally am not moved by tracks from producers, pre-done tracks that's usually all already done and kind of lead you where you're supposed to go and I'm not usually inspired. I guess, in this context, it was like I had 30 days, so I'm willing to be inspired by anything. And this guy, P.Priime, this producer in Nigeria, who's an amazing producer, has done stuff for Wiz Kid and Burnaboy and everybody else, young guy, only 21 years old.

He played me some tracks, and he got to this one, and I immediately took out my phone and started singing melodies into the voice notes. What's crazy is I listen to the lyrics now, what I thought it was when I was writing it was maybe like a vibey kind of like love song, but when I listened and processed what I was saying, because my soul was moving faster than my brain writing those songs that fast, and it was like asking Africa to please be good to me. It's like, "Oh, I'm coming. I've done all of this stuff. I've promised these people I'm going to make an album in 30 days. I don't need to be in control." I've been working-- sorry the piano.

Kousha Navidar: No, don't worry. Your soul's just moving faster than your brain [unintelligible 00:06:13].

PJ Morton: That's how we know it's live. That's how we know it's live. Please be good. Just take control, and I'm going to be willing to just trust and surrender, and that's what happened.

Kousha Navidar: Yes, and the lyrics in that song really speak to that. It says, "Take me to another place, somewhere far away." It seems like that's the ethos of this album. I love that line that you said, "Your soul was moving faster than your brain." Can you talk a little bit about the genesis of the idea of making this album?

PJ Morton: Yes, that was part of it. In the pandemic, like you said, well, initially, when we shut down, I had those albums. One was already being done, and I finished another one, and so it ended up being three in 2020. It's crazy, but being able to prepare and have so much time during the pandemic allowed my overthinking to go in a good way and a bad way, but I had more time than I've ever had to make a record, and to process life in general. It was the first time I really stopped, I think, since I was a teenager.

Of course, I reached for everything because it was sort of a book in album to me Watch The Sun, from my Gumbo album to there, so I pulled out all the all the stops. Stevie Wonder and Nas on a song together. I had El DeBarge, Jill Scott on a song, but for me, some of it was like I got everything out because I was overthinking and crossed every T, dotted every I. I wanted to see what it felt like with real stakes where I could just trust my instincts and not overthink. What would it feel like if I just trusted the very first idea instead of fixing that and editing it and getting down to that fourth idea? What happens? What is my soul trying to say without me stopping it?

This was an experiment in that. My manager and label, they were talking to me about collaborating with African artists, and I'm like, "That's cool." Then I watched Graceland and started doing some research into Paul Simon's Graceland and how he did it. I loved that he went there, but some of the criticism was that he went there and left and just took the sauce and did it here in New York. I said, "No, if I'm going to go to Africa, I really want to go there and spend time and be in depth in the culture," and that's what we did, four countries.

Kousha Navidar: You say that you wanted to see what your soul had to say and just trust it. What did your soul have to say?

PJ Morton: So many things, man. I hear this song, it's like it's speaking to me, understanding where I was, but also, Count On Me and Thank You. I think I was also in a. In a place of gratitude like, that was just coming out like a song that's called Thank You. It's such a simple sentiment, but it's a heavy sentiment to say thank you, is one of my favorite phrases. I love to say thank you, but that just came out naturally. Songs like Simunye, which is in South Africa, Zulu word that means we are one. I was just feeling communal and feeling connected my first time to Africa, the part of Africa where my ancestors were taken from.

I had been to Egypt. I'd been to Morocco, but going to South Africa and West Africa was just a different experience, and I was connecting it. The whole time I was saying, "Oh, this is--" tasting some food, I'm like, "Oh, this is Jambalaya in New Orleans." When I had Jollof rice or-- When I heard the horns in Nigeria, I'm like, "Oh, this is home. This is the second line. I'm home," and I didn't know that until I got there that we were so tied.

Kousha Navidar: Yes. That sense of gratitude, that sense of community, of discovery, you can hear it. We're talking with R&B artist PJ Morton. We got a lot more to get to, including some more songs, so stay with us. We'll be right back. [MUSIC]

Kousha Navidar: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar and we're here with artist, PJ Morton. His album From Cape Town to Cairo drops Friday and he's headed on tour this summer. We're lucky to have him in studio to talk about the album, talk about his trip to Africa that made this album possible, and to maybe hear some more songs. You mentioned before the break some collaborations that were really important and I would love to talk more about that. You have incredible artists featured on your albums like Soweto Spiritual Singers, there's Asa and Ndabo Zulu. How did these collaborations happen organically during your trip? Did you know about them ahead of time? What was that?

PJ Morton: Yes, no, that was a source of confusion initially because some of the people who were as nervous as I was, or maybe more nervous than I was that I was saying, "I'm doing this and I'm not bringing any existing songs." I did want a list of artists and producers that I could just be familiar with, but what I realized was I have to write the song first. I can't lead with this artist I want to work with. No, I have to write what I'm saying first and keep the main thing the main thing.

I did that and these artists and producers were gracious enough to be in the same experiment as I was. Fireboy DML were in Lagos and he came in and wrote right there in 20 minutes and cut his verse right there. Asa, the same thing. We went to her house in Nigeria. She had a studio at the house and I let her hear some of the songs and the one that I thought she should be on. Ndabo was in South Africa when we went back to Johannesburg. He put his trumpet down and stuff, but it was really natural like that. It was like songs first, and then let's see who could fit on this and make sense for this in a real natural way. I just wanted to be careful not to force anything.

Kousha Navidar: Talk to me a little bit more about Fireboy DML specifically, because the next song you're going to perform for us, it's a collaboration with him, a Nigerian artist. Tell us about that a little bit and then get into the song maybe.

PJ Morton: He's one of my favorites, one of my new favorites, not just in African music, but just in general. I think he's talented beyond his years. Seeing him work was pretty fascinating. Just seeing his process and how he got to this verse and recorded it right there. Even the way his recording process of how he didn't want to hear certain things. I was just fascinated. Everybody does it differently, but he does it effectively. I'm super honored that he hopped on the song with me.

That was just the energy. We had rooms full of people in every studio in every country we went to and this was no different. I had producers in other rooms and Fireboy came in the main room with us and cut this song. I had started writing this song in South Africa and had it ready for him to hear when I got to Nigeria.

Kousha Navidar: It's Count On Me.

PJ Morton: That's right.

Kousha Navidar: Can we hear a little bit?

PJ Morton: Yes, let's do it.

[MUSIC - PJ Morton: Count On Me]

Kousha Navidar: That was Count On Me from artist, PJ Morton. The album is Cape Town To Cairo. It drops this Friday and you're headed on tour this summer.

PJ Morton: Yes.

Kousha Navidar: I feel so lucky to be hearing this version of that.

PJ Morton: Right? That's my first time ever performing it. Right now, this is the very first time.

Kousha Navidar: WNYC listeners, we're dropping it for you, dropping bars here. How do you adapt it acoustically? It's so different than the studio version.

PJ Morton: What's crazy is this is how it starts. This is how it was written. It brings me back to before the production basically. I forget which mentor of mine it was. It may have been indirectly, maybe Quincy Jones but always said if it works in this form, then it can work in a bigger form. I always try to test to make sure it's a real song without the bells and whistles. That brought me back to the basics, but I never performed it until now.

Kousha Navidar: What do you like about performing it acoustically or just relying on the piano?

PJ Morton: Yes. It's a connection for me. I can emote in a different way because me and the piano are kind of one when I'm doing that. With a band, they don't know what my hands are going to do. They're doing what they're doing but sometimes if my brain decides I want to do something different, my fingers can just follow. I think it's just it brings me back to just the core of why I do it and how I started.

Kousha Navidar: You're headed on tour this summer and you tour a lot, both as a group with Maroon 5 and as a solo artist. You also performed live in South Africa during your travels. What was that like?

PJ Morton: That's right. Yes, we did two concerts in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We also performed in Ghana as well, in Accra. It was amazing. This was part of the experiment for me. I didn't want to just go and work on the album. I didn't just want to go and do interviews and whatnot. I also wanted to make sure we performed and started to build that there because so many people have been supporters in South Africa but we never made it there. We were supposed to go March 2020 to Cape Town Jazz Fest. We know what happened March 2020. That was actually going to celebrate my birthday there. I finally got there and man, the energy was amazing.

Kousha Navidar: I'm wondering too, before we tee up this next song, I got to bring up this Disney attraction that you worked on. You're from New Orleans.

PJ Morton: That's right.

Kousha Navidar: You wrote a song and contributed to the soundtrack from the newest Disney attraction, Tiana's Bayou Adventure, based on the film The Princess and the Frog.

PJ Morton: That's right.

Kousha Navidar: I was wondering, how did it feel to participate in it? I also understand that you went there and rode the ride and heard the song. Tell us about that.

PJ Morton: Yes, two days ago, so it's fresh in my mind. It was about almost a three-year process. I wrote this song probably about three years ago now. I got a call that it was a secret project that was focused on New Orleans with Disney. Eventually they told me what it was and it was fun, man. My childhood dream was really to work with Stevie Wonder and to write songs for Disney, so I'm kind of like in it, man. I'm right in my dream. It was truly a dream come true.

But when I always thought of Disney, I thought that it was going to be for a movie. That's what I always looked up to, the songs from Little Mermaid or Aladdin, but an attraction, I don't know anybody I can talk to that can relate to writing a song, original song for an attraction and so I thought it as an honor. This Splash Mountain was there 30-some years. This ride will be there for decades. My grandchildren will see it someday and so it's a huge honor, man, to-- Then deeper than that, the first Black Disney princess. I'm the first Black composer to write an original song for a Disney attraction. It's really history in the making as well. That really just humbles me, man, to be able to be the one that was chosen to do this. Super, super honored and humbled.

Kousha Navidar: When you were on that ride, were there other people on the ride with you?

PJ Morton: Well, the first time in the day, then we rode it at night and they held it up for us, so me and my family were literally the only ones on the ride. It was during-- they do fireworks at 9:30 at Disney World, so we got to see the fireworks right after the big drop. It was pretty- -magical, not to be right on the nose.

Kousha Navidar: Also, not a movie but a very memorable experience.

PJ Morton: My 11-year-old daughter was next to me singing this, and her experience knowing that there's-- this didn't exist for my childhood so it was just really special.

Kousha Navidar: You got one more song for us, right?

PJ Morton: Yes, I found you. It's a love song. It was important for me when I got to Africa to not just make an Africa album but to be PJ in Africa. This is definitely right where I live.

[MUSIC - PJ Morton: I found you]

Kousha Navidar: I found you. PJ, that was beautiful. The artist, PJ Morton, the album is Cape Town To Cairo. It drops Friday headed on toward this summer. I hear so many Stevie Wonder influences-

PJ Morton: Oh, yes.

Kousha Navidar: -in there, and you had mentioned that before.

PJ Morton: Of course.

Kousha Navidar: Can you just talk a little bit about how that's infused within the work that you're doing today?

PJ Morton: Yes, it's hard to separate Stevie just from what I do. I went on, probably at 12 years old, I just became obsessed with Stevie. 12 was really before I was really writing songs. When I started to write, I used to even try to cover the Stevie up a little bit. I'm like, "Oh man, they're going to think I'm just copying Stevie." As I got older, man, I'm like, "This is really me." It comes out sometimes, and what really made me okay with it is when Stevie stamped it, when Stevie showed love to me and has been a friend to me.

My biggest compliment ever in life is this song I have, First began. He said, he wish he would have wrote it. I think once he understood, "Oh, he's not trying to copy me, he's a child of what I've done, genuinely." So yes, Stevie will always be a special to me.

Kousha Navidar: We're getting close to time, but I want to make sure that I'm able to talk about your memoir too real quick because you're releasing a memoir. It's called Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. It's coming out in the fall, right?

PJ Morton: Yes, that's right, November 12th.

Kousha Navidar: Can you tell me a little bit about what that title means to you?

PJ Morton: The title is just a dichotomy of me. I've lived such a unique life, born a preacher's kid. My dad is a pastor, and so gospel music was the closest thing to me, and Sunday was so important, Sunday morning. But when I had desires to write R&B music, and then became a part of a pop band, and signed to Lil Wayne at one point, it was a lot of Saturday night gigging and doing that side of me. I think it's the sacred and the non-sacred, it's the this and that, the yin and the yang, and so that title summed up my life in a lot of ways for me.

Kousha Navidar: You've got maybe 30 seconds. I want to make sure that I've mentioned the tour as well. Where are you headed to first?

PJ Morton: Oh, man, we kick it off in London and we do Paris as well. We'll be at the festival out there. Then we kick off in the US, man, August, and we'll be all throughout the US the whole summer, and 11-piece band. The horn's going to be out there, the percussion's going to be out there. It's going to be a pretty special. I can't wait to play these songs live.

Kousha Navidar: Well, we can't wait to hear about it and maybe come back and tell us how it was being able to perform it live.

PJ Morton: Let's do it.

Kousha Navidar: PJ Morton is an R&B artist. The album is Cape Town To Cairo. It drops Friday. Like he just said, he's headed on tour this summer. PJ, thank you so much. That's your favorite phrase, thank you.

PJ Morton: Thank you.

Kousha Navidar: Really appreciate you being here.

PJ Morton: I appreciate it, man. Thank you.

Kousha Navidar: That's All Of It for today. Hey, thank you so much for hanging out with us. We have such a wonderful show set up for you tomorrow, so tune back in tomorrow at noon, WNYC, All Of It, we'll see you there. Thank you for listening and have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow.

 

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