''Gumbo'' is the fourth and first self-released

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer-songwriter

PJ Morton P.J. Morton (born Paul Morton Jr.; March 29, 1981) is an American Grammy winning musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2012, he has been one of the keyboardists, alongside Jesse Carmichael, for the pop rock band Maroon 5. Mort ...

. It was released on April 14, 2017, by Morton Records, as the follow-up to his third studio album ''

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
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'' (2013). The record incorporates R&B styles with elements of older

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music; its lyrics discuss themes of romance and explores political and personal themes. The album is entirely produced by Morton himself and features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

s by Pell, BJ the Chicago Kid and R&B singer Anthony Hamilton's back-up group, The HamilTones. The album features a cover of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

' " How Deep Is Your Love". ''Gumbo'' did not manage to enter on the ''

US Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

'' chart but, upon its release, it received positive reviews from most music critics, who complimented Morton's style and praised him for his singing and songwriting. ''Gumbo'' earned Morton two

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nominations for

Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...

and

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while Bab ...

at the

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Background

In 2016, Morton moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and opened a record label called Morton Records which he envisioned as "the New Orleans Motown." Same year, Morton started working on ''Gumbo''. About the album's title he said "I named it ''Gumbo'' because the actual dish is a bunch of things mixed in together to make omethingbeautiful. I wanted to grow as a songwriter and talk about more things ... about where we are in the world today, the tension, how divided we are as a country. It kind of felt like I was dumping a bunch of subject matter together and I made it in New Orleans so that sounded like gumbo to me." As a first step, on March 25, 2016, Morton released ''Bounce & Soul Vol. 1'', a mixtape which includes re-imagined versions of his best songs in New Orleans' bounce style. On July 1, 2016, Morton released the ''Sticking to My Guns'' EP, featuring the single of the same name. The EP, besides including alternative versions of "First Began" and "Sticking to My Guns", it also contains "Say So", a song that was later cut from the final tracklist of the album. On November 15, 2016, Morton released "You Should Be Ashamed", a Stevie Wonder-esque socially conscious song that was later replaced by "Religion". On March 13, 2017, Morton announced on his Instagram page April 14, 2017 as the release date of ''Gumbo''.

Singles

On April 21, 2015, Morton released an early version of "Claustrophobic", a song in which Morton expresses his frustrations with the music industry. Initially, the song wasn't supposed to be an official single but, as Morton said, the song was "something I wanted to get off of my chest". On March 8, 2017, Morton released a reworked version of "Claustrophobic" as the albums's first official single which, unlike the first version, contains new vocals, a completely different instrumentation and a rap by Pell.

Promotional singles

"Everything's Gonna Be Alright" featuring BJ the Chicago Kid and The HamilTones was released as part of the instant-great tracks, along with the album's

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

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Promotion

To promote the album further, Morton announced on June 23, 2017, that he would embark on The Gumbo World Tour, his first concert tour on a global scale. Promoted primarily by Morton Records, the tour will debut on June 30, 2017, in New Orleans. Twenty-nine additional dates were also announced across Australia and Europe, ending on September 16, 2017, in Paris, France.

Critical reception

''Gumbo'' was positively reviewed by a number of critics. Jonathan Landrum jr. of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' said "Morton's fourth offering is a short listen, lasting less than 30 minutes. But in nine tracks, he takes advantage of every last second, speaking on various topics, from love to religion." Producer

Warryn Campbell Warryn Stafford Campbell, Jr. (born August 21, 1975) is an American record producer. He has worked with a number of gospel, hip hop and R&B artists. Campbell originally got his start as a session musician and producer under the tutelage of DJ ...

, who has worked with

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

and

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

, posted on his Instagram page that "Gumbo" is the "album of the decade." op music critic Keith Spera wrote in '' The Advocate'' daily newspaper that the new album, "expands Morton's songwriting range beyond love and relationships" to include issues of the world at large. L. Michael Gipson of ''Soul Tracks'' wrote that the set is, "Perhaps Morton's most grown and fulfilling in years." In short, Hip Hop producer,

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a

Accolades

''Gumbo'' received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. The lead song on the album, "First Began", has also been nominated for Best R&B Song.

Commercial performance

Despite being critically acclaimed, the album has been seen as a commercial failure. ''Gumbo'' failed to enter on the ''

'' chart. Still, it debuted number 10 on the Top Heatseekers, Heatseekers Albums chart. - an astounding feat for an indie album without major radio airplay support. It also peaked at number 5 and number 9 respectively on the Heatseekers-South Atlantic and Heatseekers-South Central charts. The set rose to No. 16 on the R&B Album sales chart, number 28 on the

Independent Albums chart The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...