Although your album features several new cuts, you pay homage to several singers and songwriters on five covers: "Just Because" (Larry Addison), "More Than Words" (Extreme), "I Can't Help It" (Michael Jackson), "The Long and Winding Road" (The Beatles) and "For the Good Times" (Kris Kristofferson). How do you go about selecting those tracks?
Well, I knew I wanted to do remakes of songs before we even started the album. Terry and I just sat down and rolled out a ton of records that we loved. Every day, we just whittled them down, and we'd come to the studio and just cut some. "I can live without this. I can live without that." At the end of the day, we ended up with like 12 or 13 covers that we did. Of course, five of them made the record.
Is there one that holds a special place in your heart?
"Just Because" is probably my favorite cover on the record just because I'm from the country, man. Blues music is just a part of our life here.
Outside of the music world, you have made several television appearances, in addition to your recent acting role in the revival tour of Ain't Misbehavin'. What kind of interesting facts did you learn about your character, Fats Waller, the Cotton Club or the Harlem Renaissance in general?
I learned a lot about Fats more so than the Harlem Renaissance, even though Fats was one of its best representatives. Working on the musical really gave me the opportunity to see and learn about the people that preceded us as African-American entertainers, what they had to go through with such a high level of talent. I don't think we perform half as hard as dancers like the Nicholas Brothers or, you know, as people like Fats or any of those people. We get so much more credit for our talent than they did. Whether that's fair or not, they had to go through that so we can be in the position that we're in. I don't think we as young artists truly understand the gravity of the things. I don't think any of us can even imagine being asked to perform at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and them telling you after you're done, "You can't stay here." You know what I mean? Or even the Cotton Club where a lot of them performed and black people weren't allowed to patronize the Cotton Club. The owner of the Cotton Club asked them one night, "Why don't you n***gers write us a song?" and Fats came back, you know, his answer to that request was "Black and Blue."
Article comments
1 - carmel
Truly wonderful article. Thank you.
2 - Fan of Ruben
Thank you for such a great article.
3 - Mary
I am so glad you are back with a new cd. I love to hear you sing. I work until the early hours of the morning and every morning, I play Shout to the Lord..Ruben, you are truly an ambassador from Birmingham. You brought the town together during season 2. What I love about your voice is that you are smooth and have such a loving quality when you sing...You are a blessing.