Kenyon Dixon Talks Mental Health, Future Of R&B At MusiCares Summer Concert Series
MusiCares and Amazon Music closed their "Live on the Lawn" summer concert series last month with a star-studded lineup featuring Kenyon Dixon, FERG, and Toosii. The Amazon Studios Mansion Lawn in Culver City, CA hosted the free picnic-style event on Sept. 27 while highlighting the resources MusiCares provides to music professionals. Fans, supporters, and clients of MusiCares all banded together through live music, food trucks, and games.
Previous editions throughout the summer have seen the likes of Ayoni, TA Thomas, Jordan Ward, and Sinead Harnett delivering electrifying performances.
Founded by the Recording Academy in 1989, MusiCares aims to support the music community with mental health and addiction recovery services as well as health and human services, emergency relief, and financial assistance.
MUSICARES PHOTO GALLERY FEATURING KENYON DIXON, TOOSI, AND FERG
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of the Recording Academy® / Photos by Felipe Reina
As for Dixon, he is set to embark on “The R&B You Love Tour” this fall in the U.S. and Europe.
The Watts, CA native recently dropped the latest installment to The R&B You Love series with For the ‘99 and the 2000s in August as a follow up to Soul of the ‘70s in March. “Freaky” and “Brand New” are notable tracks on the new release that bring those nostalgic feelings to life through a modern twist.
Check out our conversation with the multi-Grammy-nominated Kenyon Dixon below:
XH: Describe how vital MusiCares is to the music industry and how can other artists join to support their initiatives.
Dixon: MusiCares provides some much-needed resources to the music community that a lot of creatives don’t typically have access to nor understand the importance of. I think by artists being more transparent and sharing their journeys alone, it’s a way to support the initiative and gives an honest opportunity to share these helpful resources.
XH: With MusiCares, what is a cause that you are looking to highlight and uplift?
Dixon: I’m big on mental health. That’s one cause I will always be behind and am grateful that MusiCares provides help in that space. As artists, it’s literally our jobs to give, give, give. So it’s important to have ways to also pour back into yourself which I believe starts with your mental health.
XH: You’ve found a way to blend modern R&B with classic sounds. Who were you listening to growing up?
Dixon: I grew up almost exclusively on Gospel music. To my benefit, a lot of the R&B that was being crafted then was led by some of those same creatives in Gospel. So I feel like that shaped my interest early when I got into R&B. I was also more Traditional R&B and Soul-leaning. So I studied artists like Tyrese, Faith Evans, Joe, Anita Baker, Marvin Gaye, etc. I’ve just always had a connection to artists with Soul which I don’t think is surprising that most of them are also church kids like myself.
XH: Where do you see R&B evolving in the future?
Dixon: In the near future, I see R&B starting to embrace more of its roots again on a more mainstream level but I do think that dynamic is important. So while we begin to highlight more of the R&B we’ve loved traditionally, I absolutely think there’s a space for more creative approaches and artists who are more unconventional. I think they should be embraced the same. That’s the beauty of music; there’s something for everybody.