Son Little is the stage name of the musician and singer Aaron Livingston. Livingston made his debut with hip-hop eminences The Roots,collaborated with the producer RJD2 on a project called Icebird, and produced an EP for the legendary R&B gospel singer Mavis Staples. Now recording as Son Little, or he has come out with his first solo album,also called “Son Little.” Its full of gorgeous, bluesy, or one-of-a-kind soul. Livingston wrote,sang, and performed nearly every instrument on the record. So its fitting that he arrived in Studio 360 with nothing but an acoustic guitar.
Kurt Andersen: When you were growing up, or your father was a preacher in Hollis,Queens, noted as an epicenter of hip-hop. Then you left for Princeton, and current Jersey — which doesn’t seem like a crucible for bluesy soul and R&B.
Son Little: No,I suppose not. But I think the gap in culture between those two places maybe was uniquely suited to produce whatever it is that I’m doing. Even now, there’s a part of me that hasn’t totally reconciled the differences.
enact you remember hearing a song or having an album and thinking this is something I want to enact?
There were a number of them. I had a very heavy Hendrix phase — I guess it’s still not over. It’s got strong elements of the blues, and it’s rock and roll,it’s jazz, it’s R&B.
I read that you wrote “O Mother” thinking about the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner final year.
That was part of it. We were traveling in France. I failed to prepare my cell phone for the trip, and so I was disconnected from news. And I was caught off-guard by someone who asked me a question about the protests,and it snapped me back into reality. France has a long history of being accommodating to black Americans and black artists. For me, a lot of the pressure and general tension that I feel at domestic wasn’t present. And I was suddenly really aware of that.
Bonus Track: "Lay Down" Video: Son Little performs "O Mother"
Source: wnyc.org