Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum producer Isaac Yowman is getting into a brand new artistic chapter together with his debut album Southern Glory, launched throughout the East River’s Beats on the Bayou sequence in Houston’s historic Fifth Ward.
“The album was rooted off of a movie I did in 2020 known as Reminiscence Builds the Monument,” stated Yowman, referencing the NAACP Picture Award-nominated documentary exploring the legacy of the Fifth Ward’s Membership Matinee.
Typically dubbed the “Cotton Membership of the South,” the venue was a cultural mecca for Black entertainers throughout segregation, internet hosting legends like Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Etta James, and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
“It was one of many solely locations individuals of coloration might carry out again within the day,” Yowman defined. “It had a lodge hooked up, a meals spot, every little thing. The man throughout the road made fits for James Brown and Ray Charles. That vitality, that essence, that’s the place Southern Glory was planted.”
Whereas the movie was the precedence on the time, music remained Yowman’s old flame. Behind the scenes, he was producing unique compositions to accompany the documentary, most of which audiences didn’t understand had been written from scratch.
“The movie’s underscore was unique music. Solely a few tracks had been licensed,” Yowman shared. “I used to be already in that point interval mentally and thought, what if I constructed a whole album that audibly recreated the Membership Matinee expertise? What if individuals might really feel like they had been really there?”
That imaginative and prescient grew to become Southern Glory, a physique of labor Yowman cultivated over 5 years, deliberately marrying historical past with authenticity. The album is a deep dive into the soul of Houston’s Black music heritage and a name to protect cultural reminiscence by means of sound.
“This album is for the aunties and uncles,” he stated, laughing. “However it’s additionally for the brand new college. It’s about making timeless music cool once more. Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic did one thing shut, however that was extra ‘80s. Southern Glory goes 20, 30 years earlier than that.”
Intent on crafting one thing that transcends traits, Yowman leaned into stay instrumentation, no programming, no digital shortcuts.
“It’s all actual. Actual musicians, actual strings, actual devices,” he emphasised. “With all this AI and computer-made music, we have to overemphasize actual artistry. There’s energy in humanity, in these imperfections that make music really feel alive.”
His collaborators, from string quartets to vocalists like Susan Carol, Spud Howard, Phill Wade and Patrice Dominique, had been chosen for his or her expertise and talent to channel that period’s essence. One standout is rising singer Madison Symphony, whom Yowman met by means of a Berklee alternate program whereas she was learning at Spelman. Her voice is featured on the album’s title observe.
“She’s obtained ancestors in her voice,” he stated. “I write songs with artists in thoughts, and after I heard her, I knew she had the soul this mission wanted.”
Texas-born trumpeter Amaru the Musical Nomad additionally lent his abilities to 2 tracks on the album.
He recalled their early connection throughout Yowman’s acclaimed movie Reminiscence Builds the Monument, the place they first crossed paths.
“We met after I was performing some cameos whereas enjoying stay on set,” he stated. “Later, he reached again out and stated, ‘Hey, I’m engaged on this mission, I want some horns.’ So I pulled up with my trumpet and marching baritone and we made it occur.”
Recording stay instrumentation for Southern Glory was greater than a technical contribution; it was cultural alignment.
“The time period ‘Southern Glory’ felt like one thing I’m already part of,” he stated. “After I play, I channel the vitality of Motown, Aretha, James Brown and what that period appeared like. That southern soul is pure to me. I’m all the time dwelling there mentally.”
What impressed Amaru most about working with Yowman was his multidimensional imaginative and prescient.
“He’s obtained this eye for aesthetics and music, each are high tier,” stated Amaru. “The best way he marries the visible with how the music feels simply works. As an artist myself, that’s inspiring to observe. I used to be proud to be a part of it, whilst a fly on the wall.”
Past the sound, Southern Glory is about group. Yowman’s purpose is to uplift creatives whereas maintaining Houston’s Black historical past on the forefront.
“If we don’t save and archive our historical past, who will?” Yowman requested. “They’re making an attempt to erase it. So tasks like this matter.”
