MONDAY
E-mail a friendVan Hunt
airdate April 3, 2006
Atlanta-based musician Van Hunt has been described as a bit of a throwback to R&B/soul singers of the '70s. He's been playing guitar and writing songs since his teens. Hunt first made a name for himself as a producer in the late '90s. Of his self-titled Grammy-nominated debut CD - for which he wrote, produced and played on all the songs - VH1 said he was "positioned to break the barrier that Black artists face in achieving success in the pop-rock realm." The newly-released 'On the Jungle Floor' is his sophomore CD.
Van Hunt
Tavis: In the space of just over a year, Van Hunt has gone from an aspiring singer-songwriter to an acclaimed Grammy-nominated performer. This week, he's out with his eagerly anticipated second CD, "On the Jungle Floor.' Later on this program, a performance from this new CD. But first, some of the video for 'Character.' Van Hunt, nice to see you again.
Van Hunt: Hey, you too. Thank you.
Tavis: And congratulations on all the success since you've been here.
Hunt: Thank you, thank you.
Tavis: Yeah, we kind of feel a little territorial and a little provincial about your success. We were pleased to have you on when you first broke, on some level. And now, matter of fact, I was teasing you when you walked in. The performance you're gonna do here in a few minutes, when you were here last time, first time, and nobody knew who you were, it was just you. You, your guitar, and Jesus. Just you. Now you got a whole band with you. (Laugh)
Hunt: Yeah, Jesus is still in the band. (Laugh)
Tavis: He's still in the band? All right, I ain't mad about that. (Laugh) I said, "Van Hunt got people now." That's what happens when you get a Grammy nomination. But seriously, we are proud of your successes from last year. Glad to have you here. While we were watching that video clip just now, I had to get Brian, our stage manager, to turn the monitor away.
There's a monitor, you can't see this at home. But there's a camera monitor here on the floor that Van was looking at and that I was looking at, and Van didn't wanna see it. Kind of covered his eyes, I had Brian turn the monitor away. So I take it you don't like watching yourself?
Hunt: No. I don't even like hearing myself, to be honest.
Tavis: Seriously?
Hunt: Yeah.
Tavis: What's that about?
Hunt: I think most artists are probably like that. It's always better when you're doing it, and then you hear it again and you start evaluating yourself a little too much. It's better for me and the record company if I just stay (unintelligible).
Tavis: (Laugh) Both you and the record company. So you just do it and leave the building.
Hunt: Yeah. (Laugh)
Tavis: Van has left the building, let's get busy.
Hunt: (Laugh) Right.
Tavis: When you find yourself, now I'm not as bad. I don't like watching myself or listening to myself. I actually like, for some reason, I prefer watching myself than listening to myself. That may just be ego, I don't know. I hate the way I sound, although people know me all across the country from hearing me on the radio all the time.
I've always hated the sound of my voice, although I'm not as bad watching myself. But I'm critical of myself, like you are. There are certain things about me that make me not wanna watch or hear myself. Are there things that you know you're especially critical about, that you don't wanna hear, that you don't wanna see?
Hunt: Well I usually enjoy singing. I enjoy the sound of my voice, and I work hard at it. It's just that it's always better; it feels better when you're doing it. It feels perfect. And then you hear it back and you're like, oh, that wasn't so perfect. (Laugh) So it's just, that's all it is.
Tavis: So how many instruments do you play? We were talking about all the stuff that you have played in your life. What do you like, we see you mostly on guitar. But what else do you enjoy playing?
Hunt: To be honest, I enjoy playing bass and drums the most.
Tavis: More than guitar, even?
Hunt: Yeah, yeah.
Tavis: Wow.
Hunt: I could be somebody's bass player. I would actually like to do that. (Laugh)
Tavis: Oh yeah. (Laugh) No, no, no, you don't wanna work for nobody else. You got your own, see, that's retrograde. You going backwards. You got your own thing now, and you got a band now. So you don't wanna play for nobody else. But if you, are there bassists that you really like over the years that you've listened to?
Hunt: Bass player?
Tavis: Yeah.
Hunt: My manager's a pretty good bass player.
Tavis: Oh yeah? Your manager. (Laugh)
Mehlman: (Laugh) Randy Jackson.
Tavis: Put him to work. Randy can play a mean bass. People don't know that about him. I think you're getting on to a particular generation by what they see you do. We know Randy Jackson as an idol, as a judge, rather, on 'American Idol.' But not knowing him as a music man and as a bass player himself.
Hunt: Hey, business wise, he's a genius. I'd call him that. I think he's brilliant. And a lot of people don't know that, either. They just think he judges what some would call mediocre talent every day. But he came a long way. All the way from Baton Rouge.
Tavis: Speaking of mediocre talent and your phrase that some might say he judges mediocre talent every night, I'm not asking you to call out names, per se, but what's your sense about what you're hearing from this generation? Is a lot of it, for you, mediocre? People hear you, we were talking a moment ago, people hear you and you hearken right back to the late, great Curtis Mayfield. When I hear you, man, I'm hearing Curtis Mayfield.
Hunt: Thank you.
Tavis: Do you think the talent today is mediocre?
Hunt: No. No, not at all. I just think it's harder for talented people to find outlets. They have their music, I just happened to luck out, to be honest. I was in the right place, thanks to my mom. She just forced me to go to Atlanta, and I was just in the right place at the right time.
Tavis: If the talent, then, to your point, is not mediocre, but the high quality talent, to your other point, is having trouble being heard, what's the obstacle? Why is it so hard for a guy or a gal, brother, sister, with talent to be heard?
Hunt: Well, because so much money has been made off of mediocre talent. There really is no incentive to go out and seek talented people anymore. There's no Alan Lomax running around in the fields trying to find sharecroppers to record.
Tavis: What did you do on this CD to avoid that sophomore jinx? The CD is amazing.
Hunt: Thank you.
Tavis: And we're gonna hear a track here in just a minute, a live performance in a second here from you and the band. How did you avoid that sophomore jinx? It gets you. It gets some people. They do a great CD and everybody's got great expectations, and the second one's, like, flat. You avoided that. How'd you do that, though?
Hunt: Well, I wasn't aiming to jinx the jinx. (Laugh) I just wanted to make a great record. That's all. It was the same motivation I had for the last record, is to try and at least get closer to the people that I call my heroes, musical heroes, like Sly and Prince and just try and make a record that I thought could stand alone. Some of their best work, and I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining ground.
Tavis: You're on the way, yeah. For your fans who are gonna pick this new CD up and automatically, of course, make comparisons to the first CD, I think one thing that may be unfair (unintelligible) audience is not just comparisons to the first CD, they want, oftentimes, it to be like the first CD. So before people run out and get it, what's the distinctive difference between this one and the first project?
Hunt: I think this one is a little more realized. I have more confidence in my singing. There's more confidence in my writing, which allowed me to take a broader stroke and more chances, more risk with the music. And I decided pretty much halfway through the project that I would allow it to be as artistic as it was becoming.
Because I did make some effort to try and get on radio today, 'cause thought it would be easier to sell records if I did. But I realized halfway through that I wasn't going to be able to back myself into that shoebox, so I just allowed the art and the craft to take over.
Tavis: Well, I'm glad you did, and 'm glad you do what you do. Never mind radio airplay. You can come on my show anytime you want.
Hunt: Thank you, thank you.
Tavis: And let your stuff be heard. Speaking of which, how about hearing some Van Hunt right about now? We teased you a moment ago with this song, some of the video for the song 'Character.' How about a live performance of 'Character?' I love this track. Check out the lyrics to it as well. Strong lyrical content. Van, nice to have you here.
Hunt: Thank you very much.
Tavis: Back with a performance from Van Hunt in a moment, stay with us.
From the new CD "On the Jungle Floor,' here is Van Hunt performing 'Character.' Enjoy. Good night from L.A. And as always, keep the faith.
Back to April 3, 2006