*We caught up with Grammy award-winning duo Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony — otherwise known as Louis York, to discuss their latest release, “Alone A Lot,” as well as their upcoming album “Songs with Friends,” and their Hope for the Holidays concert on Dec. 16th at The Fisher Center at Belmont University in Nashville.
Louis York has written and produced hundreds of songs for some of music’s biggest-selling artists, including Michael and Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, John Legend, Pitbull, Jason Derulo, and many more.
Their new single “Alone A Lot,” features Grammy winner Anthony Hamilton, and the sentimental ballad “captures the raw emotions of someone who has been hurt by past relationships and is close to giving up until someone special comes into their life,” per the news release.
Their next project, Songs with Friends, features a star-studded lineup of musicians such as PJ Morton, Lalah Hathaway, Chris Daughtry, Tamia, Breland, and more.
We spoke to the duo about their creative process, exploring musical diversity and their strategies to connect with their audience in the evolving music landscape. Check out our Q&A below.
Tell us about your new single, “Alone A Lot,” and the message you convey with the track.
Claude Kelly: We have a product that we’re currently unveiling song by song called ‘Songs with Friends’, and it’s a duet album with some of our closest friends, but also some of the talented musicians that we think are leading the world and should be highlighted more. “Alone A Lot” is a song with us, and Anthony Hamilton is the second offering from this project. But more important than that stuff, the feeling, the messaging, the musicality, and the lyrics of this song speak so much to who we are as artists.
Music is not just something we do for fun, but it is fun. It’s to reach people, to move people, and to inspire and encourage people hopefully. “Alone A Lot” is about that. It’s about the people who come into your life and save it when you need saving most, who know when to come and pull you out of that depression, out of that hard time. We want to dedicate a song to that because that’s our story as a band. We helped each other out of a dark place through music, and Anthony was also a part of that. It’s a beautiful song with a message that we hope people can relate to.
Can you share some insights into the artists or producers you’ve worked with on this new project and how these collaborations influenced your sound?
Chuck Harmony: Louis York is completely a hundred percent self-produced. And so we do all of the creative ourselves. But as far as the artists that are on this project, we have Jesse J, we did a song called ‘Heaven Bound.’ That was our first single. Anthony Hamilton is our second single, ‘Alone A Lot.’ We have a song called ‘Three Little Words’ featuring Tamia. And the list goes on and on. We have a duet with PJ Moore, and we have a duet with Layla Hathaway. We have a duet with Gramps Morgan. We have a duet with Breland, a duet with our girl group, The Shindellas, and a duet with Chris Daughtry.
As music purists and creatives, we want to always make sure that we’re not being redundant. We pride ourselves on being students of music. So we’re learning and growing and expanding and experimenting all of the time. So, the good part about this process is that we got to work with the best in the genres. Chris Daughtry is one of the best rock singers I’ve ever heard in studio and live. Jesse J is one of the best pop-soul vocalists I’ve heard in the studio and live. Tamia is one of the best R&B artists I’ve ever heard in studio and live. We got to collaborate with the best. Anytime a creative collaborates with people of that magnitude, you can’t help but get inspired.
You learn so much from each other during the recording and filming. We just filmed a music video with PJ Moore in New Orleans. Besides the music video, the conversation that we had in between takes kind of shaped where we’re going in 2024. His input on what he thinks the Louis York brand represents in culture helps shape our journey in so many different ways. So you not only grow musically, you expand as a creative trying to find your way in the crazy world of the music business in 2023.
For our readers unfamiliar with the sound of Louis York, how would you describe your music, and who are some of your musical influences?
Claude Kelly: We are based in Nashville, Tennessee, although our names speak of where we come from: East St. Louis and New York. There are a lot of influences between those three cities. We coined the phrase ‘New American Soul’, which is how we like to describe our sound because it has R&B in there, but it’s not just R&B, it has pop in there, but it’s not just pop. It has jazz in there, but it’s not just jazz. We didn’t want to feel like we were cutting off parts of who we were to please one genre.
Which is always a frustration when you’re a Black artist, if I’m being honest, is that they want to put you in a box and a very small one. We hate the boxes. So ‘New American Soul’ is what we’ve coined to describe our sound, which is a blend of everything that makes us up. There are so many influences, but a lot of what we talk about and listen to are the greats. We want to be futuristic in what we’re putting out now, but we want to ensure we’re referencing the best. So it’s a lot of classical music, it’s a lot of Rogers and Hammerstein. They’re one of our favorite songwriting duo collaborations. Chuck and I study everything. I think our earliest influences are Ray Charles, Bob Marley, Billy Joel, Sade, John Mayer, James Taylor, Tracy Chapman, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis on the production side, people like that. People who did it at the most extreme high level made you feel something.
Are there any plans to tour in 2024?
Claude Kelly: Absolutely. Part of the plan with ‘Songs with Friends’ is that you’ll see us on stage with some of these people we’ve duetted with on their tours as well as our shows. So look for us with Anthony Hamilton in some places—definitely Tamia when that song comes out. Jesse J, we did two shows with her in London last year before she had her baby, but she’s getting back to working now, and we’re going to do more shows with her as well. So 2024 will be a heavy performance year.
Are there any resonating messages or themes conveyed through your songs?
Chuck Harmony: If I had to put an overall theme or message to the Louis York brand and music, it would be hope. The reason why that’s important is because me and Claude always pride ourselves on looking at the marketplace and finding what’s missing. When we look at the marketplace as it relates to non-inspirational or non-traditional CCM music and gospel music, I find very little hope in the marketplace. I find a lot of ego and very little hope. And then when you look down the road at what’s going on in society and across the world, I feel like that’s what’s necessary.
I feel like Louis York’s message is timely, it’s for today, and it’s for right now because we need hope. People don’t know what’s going on with life. We’re coming out of a period in time where people didn’t know what was going on, and we still don’t know. It’s not like we have solutions since COVID. We are still in the dark about many things. I feel like hope is so necessary in these times. It makes Louis York a necessary brand and band.
Claude Kelly: I think a big part of our brand is sincerity. It’s interesting because the world right now, there’s so many ways to get your point across. Everyone has a platform in one way or another. Everyone’s TikToking, and tweeting and blogging, and newslettering, and all that kind of stuff. And yet, somehow, with all the words going out, there’s a lack of sincerity in what we’re saying. A lot of our songs are talking about making the best use of time, telling people how you feel, forgiving people, reaching out to people that you love, and human connection — which, even though it seems like we are more connecting than ever in the most natural ways, the most emotional ways we’re not. Through our words, but also just through music itself, that’s the best way to bring people back together.
The music industry has seen significant changes over the past 20 years, especially in the digital space. What strategies have you adopted to connect with your audience in this evolving landscape?
Claude Kelly: I think our approach has changed in almost every way except for the quality of the music. The one thing we refuse to change is dumbing down or watering down our art for the sake of technology. But with that being said, everything about how we get to people has had to change. We came into the business at a time when I feel like we were blessed to see the tail end of a very lucrative, over-the-top record industry. We kind of watch it decline, change, and evolve into something that doesn’t look like it was when we started. It’s much harder for songwriters and producers, people who do the things that we do behind the scenes, to survive. But more than anything, it’s hard to get heard through all the noise.
Everything that comes along with getting music out, the marketing and promoting, and being direct to consumers, are all things that we’ve all had to adapt to. I think we’ve done a good job of adjusting quickly. It’s a big part of the reason why Chuck and I moved to Nashville in the first place to start our company here and develop Louis York out of Nashville. We needed to be in a place that was fresh and respected the creative, but also, we could be free to think new about how we get to people, how we perform, and how we release songs.
I think we’re doing a good creative job of it, but there’s more responsibility on the creative person than there was before. There are good days and bad days, and days when you feel like you’re getting it right, and days when you feel like you might be getting it all wrong. Being able to hear directly from people who you’re affecting, that your songs changed their life, or that they’re going through a hard time and ‘Alone A Lot’ is exactly what they need to hear, I think it’s a lot easier to find out now than before.
It’s a double-edged sword because there are so many blessings to the speed and the ease of technology, but it also lets many unqualified people in the door. Many people in the music business right now are doing it, but not doing it well and not doing it with meaning because it’s become more accessible. We’re still trying to uphold a standard that there have to be skills and there has to be care as well as good marketing plans and good technology. So that’s kind of our mission and our daily battle.
Speaking of “doing it well and not doing it with meaning,” what advice do you have for independent artists?
Chuck Harmony: I think my first tip is to trust your instincts because what threw me for a loop, especially coming from behind the scenes, is that I was trying to base my musical journey on things I’ve seen. And in these days and times, it’s the wild, wild west. You never know what works and what doesn’t work. Trust that original instinct, that thing that keeps you up at night, the thing that motivates you the most, trusting that to let it guide your journey and not be so dependent on what other people are doing to guide your footsteps. I think that’s vital, especially in these times. Everything is so fluid, and if you’re not trusting yourself, then you’ll waste a lot of time and waste a lot of money chasing other people’s dreams.
What’s next for Louis York?
Claude Kelly: We have a Christmas show on December 16th in Nashville at Belmont. At the Fisher Center at Belmont. We’ve done a Christmas concert for the last couple of years, but this year, we’re going all out. It’s a beautiful new theater. It’s called ‘Hope For The Holidays’. The website for tickets is hope4holidaysnash.com, and it’s going to be kind of a reflection of what we say with ‘Songs with Friends.’ It’s not just us. It’s us and many friends telling honest stories about the good and the hard times of the year and offering some people some hope at a time when we sure could use a whole lot.
So our holiday concert is coming, and we are actively dropping new music on ourselves and the artists we support and work with. We hope that people keep supporting us.
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