Anderson East, born Michael Cameron Anderson on July 17, 1988, in Athens, Alabama, is an American singer-songwriter known for his soulful blend of R&B, Southern soul, and Americana. Growing up in a musical family—his grandfather a Baptist preacher, his father a choir singer, and his mother a church pianist—East was immersed in gospel music from an early age. He taught himself piano during high school, inspired by artists like Ben Folds, and began writing his own songs. After studying music engineering at Middle Tennessee State University, East moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music, working as a session musician and recording engineer while developing his distinctive sound.
East's discography showcases his evolution as an artist. His major-label debut, ‘Delilah' (2015), produced by Dave Cobb, introduced his fusion of soul and Americana. This was followed by ‘Encore' (2018), which featured the Grammy-nominated single ‘All on My Mind,' and ‘Maybe We Never Die' (2021), reflecting his continued artistic growth. East is set to release his latest album, ‘Worthy,' today (May 30th), marking his debut with Rounder Records. Co-produced with longtime collaborator Dave Cobb, ‘Worthy' is described as a reintroduction to East, showcasing his journey of personal and creative resilience. The 10-track collection features collaborations with renowned songwriters such as Natalie Hemby, Lori McKenna, and Ashley Monroe, and is infused with Muscle Shoals' radiance and soulful horns. We caught up with East to talk to him all about it.
Thanks for your time today Anderson – we know how busy you must be in the run up to a new album release!
Yeah – no problem – thanks for doing it!!
‘Worthy' is such an in interesting listen. You must be excited to have it out in the world, finally.
Yeah – I've kinda lost track of the whole process and it suddenly occurred to me that it's about to be out in the world, which is pretty cool!
I guess you've had some of these songs for a while now?
At this point, yeah. Some of them have been around for about three or four years now. I'm quite a one-track-minded kind of guy and I'm already working on new songs for the next project!
‘Worthy' is such a powerful meaning and title. What does that word mean in the context of this album?
You know….. Trying to look at the album from a wider view, it was what I was wanting from the record. That sound and style kinda just jumped out. For me, the goal of the record was just to make the record after a little time away. I also thought that it was ‘worthy' to be heard and it helps that I love the song of the same name too, that makes calling the album after it a little easier! (laughing)
Where does ‘Worthy' reflect where you are now, creatively, compared to other albums like ‘Delilah' or ‘Encore?'
I think with those records, I kinda had everything in the basket. Everything was of the time – records are sorta like a business card, you know? They help introduce who you are and help get you to the next thing – whether that is to get you out on tour or to keep you on tour and the keep the perpetual train rolling. I wanted ‘Worthy' to be the facilitator to the next step in the process and a reflection of where I am right now as a musician. I almost needed to make it just to make it, if that makes sense.
Are you a live artist who needs to make albums to play live or are you an artist who makes the album first and foremost because of the calling or the craft?
What's always fascinated me has been the records. I never really had any intention of being an artist, you know? I was always fascinated by technology and interested in finding out why great records sound great. Was it the studio? The people? The gear? I learned how to write songs but I also needed to learn how to make them sound great – that's always been a passion and fascination to me.
Once you've got the song you need to take it out on the road and the pathway flourishes from there. There's a lot of science behind making a record which is a living, breathing organism and it's that science that interests me.
The first thing that struck me when I listened to ‘Worthy' was how great it sounded. Irrespective of the melodies and the lyrics – this album sounds great. How important is Dave Cobb to this process as producer?
Dave has always been my Obi-Wan, you know? (laughing) He gave me a really long leash on this album. We did a lot of the foundation of recording this album up at his place in Savannah. He has some beautiful technology up there and that's where the framework for the record was born.
I then brought what we had back here to my studio, which was pretty new. This record needed a lot of attention and then we mixed a song or two back in Savannah and by doing that we got the lens through which the rest of the record needed to be made. The rest of the mixing was done at my studios with us shooting back and forth. Dave has been a real friend to me for the past ten years and professionally, he's given me an education that money just can't buy!
Another part of the jigsaw are the writers and you worked with some terrific writers on ‘Worthy.' Natalie Hemby, Lori McKenna, Aaron Ratiere, Ashley Monroe – they are all terrific people. Was there one writer above all the others that you really connected with putting this project together?
I don't know if there was one…… All those people you mentioned are incredible and I'm so thankful that they are my friends. Trent Dabbs is another writer who features across this album quite a bit and me and Trent have spent a long time together, writing, over the years.
It goes back to the science of making a record that I was referring to. Each one of those people has their own sonic DNA that I really respect and admire and it's awesome when it all gels into this intangible thing – no one writer stands out to me above the others – they all brought something beautiful to the record.
Lori has such a dominant voice and writes such powerful melodies. You can hear her own voice in every song that she is involved in. There's such sincerity in her lyrics and melodies, it just fucking flows out of her! It's like a spirit that permeates out of her – Natalie and Aaron have the same thing – this angel figure that follows them around and leaves its stench, for want of a better word, in the room after they are gone.
Which was the easiest song to write and which song took the longest to get it to where you wanted it to be?
The quickest was probably ‘Fool Myself.' I was going in to write for someone else and when you are in that mindset it's often easier to tap into something but what we wrote that day stuck with me, emotionally.
Probably the hardest one was ‘Worthy' itself. Trent and I wrote it about two separate different times! It was an almost disco-like song when we first wrote it. I loved the hook but not the disco feel so we went back to it and thought about putting Memphis horns and a kind of Muscle Shoals vibe onto it. That's where that song really works.
‘Worthy' is going to be a satisfying song to sing out on tour but it's such a lush, rich sounding song – are you going to be able to realise that whole sonic tapestry?
We've done two or three shows, now, in small places, just playing the record from top to bottom. It sounded great and we have the pieces in place to be able to match the sound on the record to what it should sound like in the live setting.
My initial favourite song is ‘Before It Gets Better.' That song moves me a great deal. Tell me about the inspiration behind it if you will?
Natalie and I wrote that kinda like during the throes of the pandemic years. It was this phrase that kept showing up for both of us – it's not specifically rooted in that time as a song – it's more about uncertainty and change and not knowing what the future holds. We wanted to reframe that negative view into something more optimistic.
We wanted the song to be ambiguous enough to relate to a wide range of people and their experiences.
I also really love ‘Right Where You Are Mean't To Be.' Who are you singing to in that song?
Man, we wrote that with Andy Gullahorn and Drew Kennedy. Me and Drew were writing on a separate day and we had had this conversation about records we loved and songs that were incredible and I asked him if he head heard of this guy, Andy Gullahorn. Andy has this song called ‘More of a Man' that is incredible – he does everything in that you are not supposed to do in terms in lyrics and style yet the arc of the song is so good. He was like this unicorn in my brain but Drew had his number so he called him and we set up a writing day.
I so desperately wanted to record the song that we came up with. All three of us had family drama going on, kids etc and anyone one of us could have taken it. We played the song live for the first time here in Nashville at The Basement, which is one of my favourite venues, and it took on a whole different meaning in that moment. It's one of those songs that just keeps finding people in my brain to be about. I can't wait for people to hear it and relate it to themselves.
There's so many songs on ‘Worthy' that go in interesting directions and are fascinating, lyrically. It's out today in all the usual places. Check out Anderson's website right here.
