R&B singer Eric Roberson involves fans in his ‘process’
For singer/songwriter Eric Roberson, it’s all about “The Process” — in more ways than one.
A couple of years ago, the New Jersey-born-and-based, indie R&B veteran launched a multimedia bundle called “The Process,” where fans could not only get physical and digital copies of his “Earth, Wind and Fire” EP trilogy, but additional perks like monthly Facebook Live sessions with Roberson and discounts on future merchandise.
“What I’m loving about doing something like this is that I get a chance to get a clear understanding of what works and doesn’t work as soon as I do it, you know,” says Roberson, 45, on the phone as he’s about to take a plane to Detroit. “If I release a song or if I create an idea and put it up, if people are still talk- ing about it the next day, you kinda know you have something. And if they kinda move on and start talking about something else, you know you got a little more work to do.”
These days, “The Process” can be found on the website Patreon, where 272 patrons now serve as Roberson’s closest collaborators. According to Roberson, they’re the ones behind his latest album, “Late Night Sessions,” which will
be privately distributed to them next month.
“They A&R’d the entire album,” he says “They named the album. They voted for what songs made the record and didn’t make the record. So, it was a good process — literally, no pun intended.”
Sweater weather
But it isn’t just music he’s been distributing lately. He’s also gotten into the wardrobe game. During the holidays last year, he dropped his own ugly Christmas sweater: a lime-green thing with a bespectacled, smiley-face logo (from the cover of his 2011 album “Mister Nice Guy”) front and center.
Roberson sold only 20-30 sweaters (sweaters were only distributed by the order — “I didn’t want a garage, you know, full of ugly Christmas sweaters,” he says), he still found it to be a fun venture. “People wore it at Christmas parties. I wore it at my annual Christmas party, you know. …You can bring it out of storage, dust it off and rock it for the Christmas party next year.”
As someone who continues to independently hustle, making sure his name and music is always out there, he also encourages his colleagues to do the same. Roberson will be coming to Houston this week, doing a Valentine’s Day show at the Ayva Center with Glenn Lewis, a Canadian soul singer who, like Roberson so many years ago, had a deal with a major label that didn’t appreciate what he had to offer. (He did manage to release his 2002 debut “World Outside My Window,” one of most underappreciated R&B albums of the past decade.)
‘Always a champion’
Roberson and Lewis recently collaborated on “Chasing Goosebumps,” a 2017 collection of songs that were created and produced in one week. Singers, songwriters and musicians were summoned by DJ and Grammywinning producer DJ Jazzy Jeff to work on this feverishly put-together project, with Lewis handling lead vocals. “Glenn was just back in Canada, you know, doing other things, and he was happy and content,” says Roberson. “But he had no desire to do music anymore. And you can’t take a voice like that and not use it.”
After seeing Lewis perform nonstop for several days, hitting amazing notes even as Roberson and other songwriters came up with whatever tune at that moment, Roberson believes that artists like Lewis shouldn’t squander their talents. “I’m always a champion, whether it’s Glenn Lewis or an indie, little soul artist I meet at a show,” he says. “I’m always trying to sow into them that, whether big or small, work out your business plan.
“Whatever it is, bring a plan toward it and do it,” he adds. “And do it to the best of your ability, and there’s such a reward for that. I think that’s the part that people miss, and that’s why I lean so heavily on that word ‘process,’ because that’s really the only thing you should be concerned about. You shouldn’t be concerned about whether it works or how it does or what people will think about it. That’s for somebody else.”