Outside of the Intercontinental Hotel in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood, Dwele’s tour bus is waiting for him. Sure, it’s only been parked for a little over an hour, but it’s already time to head off to a sound check for his latest concert tour with Eric Benet and Jon B.

“I used to think being an artist was all fun and games,” the singer, born Andwele Gardener says, shaking his head ruefully. “But I actually get up earlier now. It’s up at 3 or 4 a.m. to catch a plane to get on the bus, sleep for a couple of hours [until] around 1 or 2 p.m. and then it’s back at it.”Yes, his schedule is hectic, but as he acknowledges, when his official debut album, Subject, labeled him as soul’s latestambassador, it became part of the game. Right now he’s working on his newest album release, Sketches of a Man, which has been receiving a great response thus far.“I’ve been hearing a lot from people that [this album] reminds them of the first album that I came out with, which is good because the first album got a lot of recognition,” he says. “I think we still have a lot more ground that we need to cover as far as getting it out there and getting it known.”So, it’s back to business — as usual.
“I’ll be touring forever,” he laughs. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to tour until I start working on the next album.”

He smiles tiredly again and leans back slightly against his chair, grateful for the opportunity to rest a bit before his next show. Dwele is bringing the youthful element to the concert’s lineup and hopefully gaining some cougar fans in the process. He chuckles about the way the slightly older crowd has been responding to him.“We’ve had a couple of shows where it got a little wild. A couple of old schools tried to take me out,” he acknowledges, grinning. “But it’s good. It’s all in fun.”  And so, he’ll fight through his sleepiness and shake off the bumps of the long road trip because he sees the bigger picture …longevity.

Dwele’s current sly hit, “I’m Cheatin,” showcases his blunt, yet layered storytelling. He understands that his pen game is largely what separates him from other soul crooners. “I try not to censor my writing as much,” he says of his writing progression. Then he pauses. “I don’t know. Maybe censor is not the right word. I try to write about things that other people don’t write about. I think everything can be talked about in a song. It’s just the way that you word it.”–jacinta howard

Send this Article to a Friend
facebook