Tag Archives: Eric Roberson

Zo! – ‘SkyBreak’ (2016)

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The third +FE Music release from producer, multi-instrumentalist, and musical director of The Foreign Exchange, Zo!.

The 10 song collection features guest appearances from Eric Roberson, Phonte, Muhsinah, innovative UK soul wonder Dornik, and longtime Dungeon Family affiliate and funk/rock veteran Joi.

01. Lake Erie feat. Sy Smith
02. Starlight feat. Phonte
03. Packing For Chicago feat. Muhsinah
04. I Don’t Mind feat. Shana Tucker
05. Wishing You Well feat. Carmen Rodgers
06. A Season feat. Eric Roberson
07. Just Whatcha Like feat. Joi
08. Lifelines feat. Dornik
09. For Pops
10. Steal My Joy feat. Tamisha Waden

Purchase SkyBreak
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Listen to SkyBreak
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2014 in Pictures

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2014 was a year I spent on the ROAD. Shall I even attempt to list all of the cities?! ….Hell, why not. This year I hit up Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham (Alabama and United Kingdom), Boston, Brooklyn, Cape Town, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Cologne, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Fresno, Houston, Johannesburg, Kansas City, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Oakland, Paris, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, Rotterdam, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Ana, Seattle, St. Louis and right down the street…. Washington D.C.

I got to hear music that I worked on every single week on Adult Swim’s animated series, Black Dynamite, saw myself on TV one day and decided to make a change by dropping off 35 lbs in the first few months of the year, traveled and saw some of the world with The Foreign Exchange and solo with Carmen Rodgers, started working on an EP with 1/2 of +FE, Nicolay, rocked an NPR Tiny Desk with +FE, began scoring a documentary, began a storytelling series, “Studio Campfire Stories: LIVE” that started on the right foot with a sold out show in Atlanta, and released one of the more talked about videos of the year (in my eyes anyway haha)..

Here’s to a helluva 2015 and much love to everyone riding with me throughout this musical journey… *raises glass of brown likkuh* Cheers!!

Photo by Ćrís Mércádó
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
Tiny Desk featuring +FE
Sacramento
Rockin’ Pittsburgh
Carmen and Erro saingin’ in …..”Harmonism”
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Poppin’ through your IG
Photo by Molex Photography
Yep, I’m ready to smash this stage too, Carmen Rodgers…
Me and Carmen Rodgers
StL crowd | Photo by Nick Baglio
‘We Are On The Move’ in Jo’Burg
Back on stage with Sy Smith in DC
Black Van In Paris
Clowning in Nashville
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Some ink in Minneapolis, MN
Photo by Abby O. Photography
In Seattle
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
Rockin’ Boston |Photo by Dart Adams
In Vegas
Rockin’ Minneapolis, MN
In the studio with Carlitta Durand
With Sy Smith and Joi in LA
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Rockin’ in NYC
Me and Algebra in London
Riding through Soweto
Pictures after the show
With Carmen Rodgers and Sy Smith after our show in LA
Me and Phonte in San Diego
Photo by Jon Crisp
Sacramento crowd shot
Nashville!
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Crew photo in Paris
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
NOLA | Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
After our Paris Show
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
With Waajeed in Detroit
Carmen rockin’ her Zo! tee
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Seattle crowd shot
Visiting Zana at Spectacles in Detroit
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
With Dam-Funk and 14KT in LA
With Monica Blaire in Alexandria, VA
Encore at the +FE show • Magic Stick in Detroit, MI (05.09.14)
The Charlotte crowd
Rockin’ in NOLA | Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
Photo by Nikki at Infinite Ink
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
With Algebra Blessett
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Streets of London
+FE on Fox5 News in Vegas
Normal IG picture…
In Sacramento
Chicago!
Photo by Omni StudioPhotography
Me and Nicolay setting up to take a crowd pic in LA | Photo by Nick Baglio
Taking Pictures of Cape Town
We Are On The Move
Studio Campfire Stories in Atlanta… Sold Out Show!
Me and Jeanne Jolly at The Howard Theatre in DC
Tiny Desk with +FE
Photo by Abby O. Photography
San Francisco crowd shot
Ran into Robin S. on the plane from Amsterdam to Atlanta
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Posing with the worst tasting chips I have EVER eaten
Photo by Abby O. Photography
Love to the Brooklyn crowd | Photo by Nick Baglio
Black Van landing in South Africa
Not so normal IG picture…
Detroit vs. The Eiffel Tower
Photo by Dominique Easton for KÏNGDØM Photography
Photo by Abby O. Photography
With Frank McComb in Alexandria, VA
Landing in London
Riding the train in Paris
in Jo’burg | Photo by Ernest Sefolo
Cape Town

Visuals from the Zo! featuring Carmen Rodgers at the 2nd Annual Pink Alive Concert for Breast Cancer Awareness in NYC – (10.28.14)

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Visuals from…

Zo!
featuring Carmen Rodgers
at Joe’s Pub in New York City, NY
October 28, 2014

Personnel:
Zo! – Grand Pie-Anna
Carmen Rodgers – Lead Saingin’
Eric Roberson – Guest Saingin’ on “We Are On The Move”
Zach Cutler – Gee-tar
Dennis Turner – The 6-string Low End Theory
Jon Laine – Skins

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Zo! featuring Carmen Rodgers – Performing at 2nd Annual Pink Alive Concert for Breast Cancer Awareness in New York City, NY – October 28, 2014

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2nd Annual Pink Alive Concert for Breast Cancer Awareness

Zo!
featuring Carmen Rodgers

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 – New York City, NY
(ManMade Tour)
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003 | (212) 539-8778
Doors: 9p | 18+
BUY TICKETS

“We Are On The Move” Debuts on Vh1 Soul!!

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It feels pretty good to now have two videos from ManMade in rotation on VH1 Soul now (“Count To Five” being the first)… “We Are On The Move” is definitely my most popular video to date and I’m happy to see that it’s finally getting a bit of television shine… Click the picture to see the video.

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Zo! Interview on Music Emissions

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Author: Carlita
Source: Music Emissions

INTERVIEW: Zo!

Remember when video channels actually played videos and you came across a new one that made you want to know more about the artist and the album attached? Yeah, me too. A few weeks ago, I encountered R&B artist Zo’s new video ” We Are On The Move” featuring Phonte (who I’d interviewed a few months ago with with his partner, Nicolay, in FE), Eric Roberson and Darion Alexander that lifted spirits, brought the funk, made me want to get down via the underground interweb (which has great taste, btw) and I needed to know more. I discovered a talented (music and baseball wise) producer, composer and musician from the D that delivered a 2013 album , “ManMade” combining with other R&B singing talents, that deserves all the accolades it’s received.

LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW

Scoring A New Documentary “Undeniable – The Story of The Independent Soul Music Movement”

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Undeniable

I’m honored to have been selected to score a new documentary that is currently in production entitled Undeniable – The Story of The Independent Soul Music Movement. The film’s director and producer, John Jointer contacted me a few months ago to ask me about being a part of the project, to which I was completely down to do. He said that he would be at our Indianapolis show (back in October) to sit down with Carmen Rodgers and I for interviews and to get some show footage. He then asked me if I would be interested in scoring the film as well. Hell YEAH I’d be interested! So there you have it… Between the Vegas Documentary, doing the music for the second season of Black Dynamite – The Animated Series and now this project, I’m really happy with the expansion to television and film. The new year has gotten off to a pretty wonderful start…

Watch the Undeniable Film TRAILER

Support the film HERE

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Zo! – “We Are On The Move” featuring Eric Roberson and Phonte (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

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There are only two rules I have for watching this new video:
1. Leave your cool at the door…
2. HAVE SOME FUN.

The day before this video shoot, I was catching up with Eric Roberson in the car where we had the heat blasting as it was cold as shit outside (of course with today’s ‘Polar Vortex’, it probably seems like nothing now). Anyway, as we were talking… almost in mid-sentence Erro stops and said, “Hol’lup, we’re shooting (the video) outside tomorrow?” …To which I responded, “Yeah.” It was supposed to be 30-35 degrees (F) in the morning and top off at about 40 in the afternoon. We all met up at around 7:30a the next morning, threw a couple of dance moves together, looked at each other like, “It’s cold as hell, but we’re out here… Let’s have some damn fun.” And that is EXACTLY what happened…. Enjoy!!!

Zo! “We Are On The Move” featuring Eric Roberson & Phonte (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Directed by: Kenneth Price

Purchase ManMade HERE • Or on iTunes

Eric Roberson, Darion Alexander, Phonte, and I on set in NC (Dec. 2013)

Eric Roberson, Darion Alexander, Phonte, and I on set in NC (Dec. 2013)

2013 In Pictures

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With 2013 being the most successful year in my music career, it’s only right that I share the pictures that documented it. Looking back, I released my newest album, ManMade, and had the pleasure of visiting Brooklyn, Baltimore, D.C., Chicago, Richmond, Philly, Pittsburgh, LA, Tucson, Detroit, Vegas, Seattle, Austin, Durham, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cleveland in support of it – I was even asked to perform on the eight-day Capital Jazz Cruise at the beginning of November. I contributed to the new The Foreign Exchange album Love In Flying Colors with “Listen To The Rain,” and The Reworks with a remix for Phonte’s “Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”. I hung out with Bobbito and Crazy Legs of Rock Steady in NYC, began endorsing Lewitt Audio, released an ode to Sesame Street in the form of the “Count To Five” video, was the subject of my FIRST documentary, and even had a day named after me in Las Vegas.

Things to look out for in 2014…
• Making the music for Black Dynamite – The Animated Series (Season 2) with Fatin “10” Horton
• My very first trip to South Africa with The Foreign Exchange at the end of March + a world tour with +FE
• A brand new single + video from ManMade + more solo dates
• New, original music… Including a collaborative EP with…………………………

…….anyway, thank you, 2013… Here’s to one helluva productive and positive new year in 2014. Cheers!!

Rockin’ on the Capital Jazz Cruise (Nov. 2013)
Ideeyah, Monica Blaire, Sy Smith, Darius Mitchell, Me, Kristopher Crosby, Brandon Williams, and Saxappeal after a helluva homecoming show in Detroit. (June 2013)
Rocked with Original Blackbyrds member Allan Barnes at my boy Tate McBroom’s wedding in September.
A view from the keys at the +FE show in Columbia, SC (Oct. 2013)
Stevie at NAMM (Jan. 2013)
Photo shoot in NC with Creative Silence
Keys • Photo by Creative Silence (July 2013)
Having fun on stage in Durham (July 2013) • Photo by FroLab
The Pittsburgh crowd awaits… (June 2013)
Live interview/meet and greet at Moods Music in Atlanta (Aug. 2013)
Signing a fan’s keytar in Houston (Sept. 2013)
Me with Michael Coylar (Nov. 2013)
Another one added to the wall…
On the bass for “We Are On The Move” in Pittsburgh (June 2013)
In Detroit (June 2013) • Photo by Norvell Molex
Zach Cutler, Deborah Bond and I in NYC (June 2013)
Final touch of fatassedness on the Capital Jazz Cruise (Nov. 2013)
Carmen Rodgers and Phonte going in on a game of Operation (Oct. 2013)
Durham Crowd Participation • Photo by Meri Hyöky Photography
Me and Gwen Bunn after shooting the “Count To Five” video in NC (May 2013)
All day… • Photo by Creative Silence
@Hicksont77 rockin’ a Zo! shirt
First single from ManMade… “The Train”
Me and Carmen rockin’ out in Cleveland (Dec. 2013)
On the bass in the Gibson Showroom – Vegas (July (2013)
ManMade held it’s own on iTunes at #2 on the R&B charts the first couple of days out…
Anthony David, Carmen Rodgers and I after our show in Atlanta (Aug. 2013)
Deborah Bond going IN (July 2013) • Photo by Meri Hyöky Photography
On keys for The Foreign Exchange in Raleigh, NC (Oct. 2013)
Dr. Lonnie Smith MURDERING on organ at NAMM (Jan. 2013)
With Sy Smith performing at NAMM (Jan 2013)
Soundchecking in Pittsburgh (June 2013)
@Sophia1922 with de Zo! shirt
Me with Saxappeal, Zach Cutler, Tim Scott Jr., Carmen Rodgers and Darion Alexander after smashing the Las Vegas show (July 2013)
Video Shoot in NC (Dec. 2013)
Fall in Michigan (Oct. 2013)
Jarrard Anthony, Me, Jon Bibbs, and AB
The crown…
Atlanta Skyline (Oct. 2013)
“Count To Five” got some love in July on “Numbers Never Lie” (July 2013)
…just visiting vinyl sold out this year.
Made it to CentricTV’s “13 Best Indie R&B Artists of 2013” (Dec 2013)
Zo! + Carmen Rodgers (Sept. 2013)
Contributed to The Reworks album this year with “Gonna Be A Beautiful Night” Remix
@Ms_Toni with the Zo! Shirt
Ursula Rucker and I in Philly (June 2013)
Bobbito, Me and Crazy Legs in NYC (July 2013)
Autographed pre-orders! (May 2013)
Chuck Anderson, Richard Williams, Nate Mitchell, Me, and Dennis Garner
Live painting of me by Demont “Peekaso” Pinder on the Capital Jazz Cruise (Nov. 2013)
Yep, that’s a ManMade cake, bruh. Made by @TheCakeLadyNY
Me and Phonte before the “Count To Five” video shoot
ZoTif, Nord Lead 2X, and the Moog Little Phatty… D.C. set up (May 2013)
On keys in Vegas (July 2013)
“Count To Five” video (May 2013)
Looks like I’m singing… But I’m really just talkin’ shit.
One of my FAVORITE spots in Detroit… Bucharest Grill. (June 2013)
Zo! shirt spotted in these skreets!!
Setup at Indianapolis’ Jazz Kitchen (Oct. 2013)
Lewitt Audio LCT 540 condenser microphone looking nice in East Wing Studios
In Southfield, MI recording with Collective Peace (Oct. 2013)
Showing Sy some key parts in Detroit (June 2013)
Me and Bobbito at the D.C. showing of his street ball documentary, “Doin’ It In The Park” (May 2013)
Chantae Cann and I before performing on the Capital Jazz Cruise (Nov. 2013)
@Eclectic1914 rockin’ the Zo! shirt
Still can’t believe I have my own day in Vegas. (July 2013)
Rehearsal in Atlanta (Aug. 2013)
Carmen and I after +FE’s Atlanta show (Oct. 2013)
Gwen Luh De Keeeds (May 2013)
Me and my brother, Waajeed in Detroit (june 2013)
Another Zo! shirt sighting!!
Tucson, AZ (July 2013)
Carmen Rodgers and I after our Atlanta Show (Aug. 2013)
Me and Carmen in Houston, Gary Mayes on drums (Sept. 2013)
The Island of Curaçao (Nov. 2013)
Sy Smith and I rockin’ out in Seattle (July 2013)
Eric Roberson, me and my stank face that made a few appearances during the show. (Nov. 2013)
After rocking our Charlotte Show (Aug. 2013)
On bass at the Detroit Show (June 2013)
ManMade – Released on May 21st
Lewitt Audio Microphone for the road…
Photo by Meri Hyöky Photography
Contributed “Listen To The Rain” on The Foreign Exchange’s ‘Love In Flying Colors’ (Sept. 2013)
Me + Sy Smith rockin’ twin Motifs at NAMM (Jan. 2013)
The sun shining on Detroit (June 2013)
My first visit to Biscuitville in Raleigh, NC (Oct. 2013)
Rockin out in Dallas with Carmen Rodgers, Lock Johnson on the drums (Sept. 2013)
Zo! shirt sighting!
Brand new interface in the studio (Oct. 2013)
Phonte on stage in Durham • Photo by Meri Hyöky Photography
Twin Motif set-up in Tucson (July 2013)
At the Gibson Showroom @ Fox 5 Vegas going over the gameplan…
Richmond showed up… (June 2013)
Eric Roberson, Darion Alexander, Phonte, and I on set in NC (Dec. 2013)
Me and Larry Graham (Nov. 2013)
On the Road to NC (Dec. 2013)
The Zo!Tif in Richmond (June 2013)
@Cocoa_Cheeks_ rockin’ a Zo! shirt
Helluva year for +FE Music
in Seattle (July 2013)
Full House in Atlanta for +FE (Oct. 2013)
The L.A. Crowd (June 2013)
Durand Bernarr and I after the Cleveland shows (Dec. 2013)
Me and Carmen in St. Louis (Oct. 2013)
+FE Soundcheck in Raleigh, NC (Oct. 2013)
Show love after EVERY show. In Dallas (Sept. 2013)
@LifeOfALibra rockin’ a Zo! shirt
Chicago Show (June 2013)
Deborah Bond and I in Durham (July 2013)
First stop on the ManMade Tour was…. Brooklyn on its release date.
Me and Deborah Bond after rockin’ in Philly (June 2013)
On the keys in L.A.
Rockin’ out at Fox 5 Vegas in the Gibson Showroom