It's no secret that Kenyon Dixon loves soulful music. His version of "Bring it On Home to Me" — a Sam Cooke tribute, and a collaboration with PJ Morton, BJ The Chicago Kid and Charlie Bereal — even earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance this year.
In this episode of Press Play at Home, Dixon's penchant for old-school music is once again on full display — this time, in his own original song, "Hard Way," a track from his early 2021 LP, Expectations. An emotional, tender song featuring plenty of sultry vocal runs, the track encapsulates all the melodic earnestness of classic R&B, and Dixon keeps the throwback vibes going with the visual aesthetics of his performance.
Backed only by a guitar line, the singer performs in front of a circular doorway painted with brown-and-yellow rainbow stripes. The '70s vibe is very much alive, as the room around him also features shag carpet, a velvety armchair and a small, vintage-looking television set.
Both in his music and in conversation, Dixon is a proud advocate for the return of R&B's traditional roots. In a 2022 interview with Rated R&B, he expounded on his passion for promoting his favorite kind of music.
"Anytime I'm talking about the world needing more R&B, it's my attempt at trying to amplify classic R&B and kill the conversation that nobody's doing it," he explained.
Elsewhere in that interview, Dixon points to the release of his Expectations album as a cornerstone for his decision to keep flying the flag for the genre. "The response to Expectations let me know that people were still yearning for classic R&B. I wanted to be as intimate as possible in the R&B space, even getting closer to my fans and understanding what they love about [my music]."
In the two years since Expectations dropped, he has done exactly that: Dixon's latest project, Closer, "[breaks] down the core elements of R&B," he said, adding, "I even asked myself what I love about R&B."
Press play on the video above to watch Dixon keep the fire of classic R&B burning, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Press Play at Home.