For the past 15 years, multi-Grammy nominated musicians Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly have defined the sound of pop and R&B. Both together and apart, they’ve written and produced hits for artists spanning Miley Cyrus and Rihanna to Christina Aguilera and Bruno Mars, challenging the conventions of what listeners have come to expect and guiding the direction it should take. But it wasn’t until years after they met while working on a Chrisette Michele album in 2009, and officially joined forces in 2015 as Louis York, that their vision crystallized: two ingenious musicians stepping out of the studio and into the spotlight to share stories from their own perspectives, and forge a new path of what sort of spaces contemporary music can inhabit.

“It's time for creators to decide what the next decade will sound like, what it will be,” explains Harmony. “Every decade has something new to offer musically and culturally. The excellence and the freedom and the risk-taking and the orchestration, that's what I feel like. Music has to become aspirational again.”

Since the duo began writing and recording music, Louis York—named after a combination of their respective hometowns (Harmony from East St. Louis, Kelly from New York City)—has released an EP trilogy entitled Masterpiece Theater: Act I, Act II, Act III. The projects earned praise from publications including Billboard and Los Angeles Times for their genre-bending sensibilities and creative aesthetic. In a relatively short amount of time, the pair has amassed more than one million cumulative streams on Spotify; given a talk as part of the esteemed TEDx Nashville program; and performed sold-out shows, most recently on its “Love Takeover” tour since the start of the year.

Now, after establishing their own creative studio, label and artist collective Weirdo Workshop, and settling into their headquarters in Franklin, Tenn., the pair is ready to unleash its full-length debut, American Griots, releasing October 18. “A Griot is a traditional West African storyteller and musician and historian,” explains Kelly. “It's purposely harkening back to a legacy that Chuck and I personally relate to. It's more, look at the state of the world right now, how much do we need light music, how much do we need things to inspire? Really badly. Rather than complain about it, we decided to be the solution.”

The set is an ambitious step forward for Louis York, stretching the limitations of convention by traipsing sound and style, without losing focus of the message at hand. “For us, it's not just about writing a song—our songs come from life experiences and learning and mistakes,” continues Kelly. “The songs aren't just like, look at us, we can do cool music. Louis York is more about the music, which is the end result of a lot of growth. It always feels better when we pull our music out, because it feels like it's the ending of a really long, hard race.”

With the release of American Griots, Louis York plans to continue to challenge what two black men making music in today’s musical climate are capable of achieving. Their Weirdo Workshop umbrella, which is making waves in Nashville and diversifying Music City, will develop signees The Shindellas, all while bringing their vision as Louis York to the masses. “The goal here isn't to have a hot album; the goal here is to make history,” says Kelly. “To leave a legacy, but also make history and be known as one of the best bands to do it, and to do that, it has to be real. I think if people can feel that, they'll get that kind of mentality when they go to create, and music gets better, America gets better and the world gets better.”

"Bringing RnB, Old Skool, Jazz, Indie, and Edu-tainment Flava... the good stuff.   Because this is how WE do it in the Suite!!  

Hello, Suite Family!!

I invite you to view and check in with me on www.UrbanSoundSuite.com, Urban Sound Suite with Matt Houston, or Matt Houston's FB pages via Messenger.   You may email me at urbansoundsuite@gmail.com to correspond or make a request.  Because this is how WE do it in the Suite!:-)

The Urban Sound Suite, Back In The Houston Groove (Artist Features), and 5th Sunday Soul and Sunday Soul (Gospel Inspiration) are continuously seeking to make contact with artists/groups, managers, producers, agents, promoters, record labels, authors, poets, models, etc., to (possibly) obtain airing consideration and/or possibly an on-air appearance. If you know of anyone interested/think should email me at urbansoundsuite@gmail or on Facebook, "Matt Houston," and we can possibly speak via messenger. 

If you or someone you know would like to submit music for airing on the show. the following is requested:  

1) All tracks must be in MP3 format*  
2) At least one artist photo (.jpg only)**  
3) At least one CD/Album cover photo (.jpg only)*** 
4) A Bio of the artist/group to include upcoming tour/venue dates, and social media information (i.e., as extensive as possible)   

* (Music only) If Feature Artist consideration is desired, a minimum of six tracks (ranging from earlier to new release material) (for new artists, contact me to discuss options)  

** (Music only) If Feature Artist consideration is desired, a minimum of six photos are required (photos ranging from earlier to new release images) 

 *** (Music only) If Feature Artist consideration is desired, photos from each track cover are requested. 

Additionally, plans are in the works to institute Skype on air. I request that you also connect with me on Skype.at screen name "mattdadj" (it will direct you to the Urban Sound Suite Skype page...also text/send "your name AND "Connected on LinkedIn") in the message box (so I know It isn't Spam) and also "Black Country Radio."  Once you have Skype connectivity, you will be able to contact me.

I request that you visit, Review, Add/Connect (and Like as appropriate) the links below: 

www.UrbanSoundSuite.com

Urban Sound Suite with "Matt" Houston - https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSoundSuite/ 
Matt Houston - https://www.facebook.com/Matt.HoustonTheDJ 

Matt Houston - Urban Sound Suite - https://www.facebook.com/urbansoundsuite2/ 

LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/urbansoundsuite 

Back In The Houston Groove - https://www.facebook.com/BackInTheHoustonGroove/ 

Urban Sound Suite 5th Sunday Soul - https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSoundSuite5thSundaySoul

Urban Sound Suite Talk - Military - https://www.facebook.com/urbansoundsuitetalk.military/ 

Urban Sound Suite Talk - https://www.facebook.com/urbansoundsuite.talk/ 

Urban Sound Suite on G+1 - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+HeyMrDJMatt_UrbanSoundSuite 

Urban Sound Suite on Twitter - https://twitter.com/UrbanSoundSuite 

Urban Sound Suite on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/urbansoundsuite 

Urban Sound Suite on MySpace - https://myspace.com/heymrdjmatt 

Urban Sound Suite on Pinterest - https://uk.pinterest.com/urbansoundsuite

Arnold McCuller is an accomplished singer, producer, and recording artist as well as a featured vocalist with James Taylor, Phil Collins, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, and more.

Lee Wilson continues his trajectory as one of the brightest lights and most in demand vocalists around today! The East Coast singer/songwriter, instantly affiliated with the biggest and the best following his breakout track alongside Kenny Dope - 'Turn You Up' Ever since then he's been riding with the greats - Todd Terry, Reelsoul, Michele Chiavarini, Richard Earnshaw, Doug Gomez, Stacy Kidd, J Paul Getto, Hatiras, Angelo Ferreri, Mr. V. , Andres Mijangos, and more. Clearly an artist in high demand, and for good reason too - his trademark smooth vocals lend themself to a hybrid of deep and soulful flavors.

mattcusson is following