Gregory Porter translates mother's altruism into music
Take me to the alley.
Take me to the afflicted ones.
Take me to the lonely ones,
that somehow lost their way.
Gregory Porter still remembers his mother literally searching the streets for someone to help. Her generosity was confusing, even upsetting, to him as a boy — but now the soul-jazz sensation says he understands the beauty of her impulse.
"She gave this boy who had no clothes my best," he recalls, adding that she skipped over the worn and torn items. As an adult, he still thinks about that ethos. "Am I giving them my best? Or just cutting some fat off the steak?"
Today the Grammy-winning artist joins Shad to discuss how he channels his mother's humanitarian spirit into his music; a theme well captured in his new album and its title track, Take Me To The Alley.
"My mother gave me something," he said, adding that her humility, her fearlessness taught him how to stay rooted. Even in her final hours, she insisted on giving money to a struggling family.
"It's great when things go platinum, but my job is to absorb my environment and try to take the beauty and thoughtfulness out of my experience and bring it to melody," he says. "That's what my mother did."