Interviews

Todd Dulaney Talks New Music, Marriage & Lessons Learned…

Published

8 years ago

May 2, 2016

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“I was winning in front of everyone else and I was losing at home…Honestly, I think that until I really got my house in order with my wife, God had everything on hold for me. When I got that right, that was when everything shot off!” – Todd Dulaney

Todd Dulaney recently spoke to us about his new album release “A Worshippers Heart” and opens up while taking a look back at the lessons he has learned so far in his journey both personally and professionally.

ASR: Congratulations on your new album release and being signed to EOneNashville! This seems to have been huge for you! Did you pray for the level of success you’re seeing now?

TODD DULANEY:
I don’t know if I really prayed for a label per se, but I did pray that people would accept what I’m doing and that they would appreciate it. I wanted to be able to witness to the masses and I knew that it would take somebody to say, “I acknowledge that this is good and it’s anointed” – God just did it where the right people in the right places were like, “We like this!” …and that’s all it took – just a few people to say “we like it” and it spread like wild fire!

ASR: In everyone’s journey, there are always rough patches. Did you ever find yourself not connected to the right people? If so, how did you get through that time?

TODD DULANEY:
Honestly, I have some things that I can’t even share because of legal things that I went through in the past. But, I wouldn’t want to bash them anyway. I just thank God for the experience. But, yes – I’ve had experiences where I’ve been in bad business deals and bad label situations. I’ve even had it where the label I’m with now (Entertainment One), I felt like I was waiting too long. But, I was wrong. Now I can see that it was right on time! God’s timing was absolutely perfect. There were some things he had to work out in me. There were some things that had to change in me. I didn’t know it, but that time was preparing me for now. I wouldn’t have been ready for all of this before! Even just for things like overseeing a big sized band and more – I just wouldn’t have been ready.

ASR: What was your life like 5-6 years ago compared to where you are today?

TODD DULANEY:
Five to Six years ago I probably didn’t have two pennies to rub together. I was scratching for anything that I could have. I had just come away from playing professional baseball not too long ago before the 5 years, so you know – life for me was difficult. There was a lot of not really knowing if switching from baseball to music was even going to work you know. All I had was my faith in God. I was saying, “God, I believe you called me away from baseball to serve you. I’m trusting you to make this work.” But, I had times when I would think, if God doesn’t make this work, then man – I’m in trouble! I didn’t know what we were going to do. I had just married my wife, and I told her I believe God called me away from baseball. But, sometimes it didn’t look like it was God you know? But, God is faithful. I can’t believe that today we are this far away from where we were then five years ago.

ASR: How important is prayer for you?

TODD:
I don’t even think of it as I’m stopping to pray. I’m constantly communicating with the Father. Whether I’m driving or wherever I am…and I’m over the top – I’m always trying to connect to the Father! So much so, that even my wife sometimes is like “chill” – For sure, at least once a week I’m fasting. I’m praying and fasting all of the time. For me, I know I need to keep that communication has to continue on. When you have that type of communication going, He’s always sharing new stuff – and He’s always speaking. Even if He’s saying “Hey, stop talking to me for a minute and go be with your wife. You been with me too long and she’s just sitting upstairs.”

ASR: That’s great advice! Balance is important. You and your wife just did an interview about your marriage. What have you learned in terms of marriage and family? …and how did that effect your ministry?

TODD:
Honestly, I think that until I really got my house in order with my wife – and really learned how to love her…God had everything on hold for me. Things didn’t start to work until I learned to love my wife! For real… I was winning in front of everyone else and I was losing at home. I wasn’t treating her right. It wasn’t on purpose – I really thought that I was treating her right. I thought I was doing all of the right things. But, I learned…she’s crying out for something different. So, whatever this little stuff is that I think I’m doing that’s meeting her needs – it’s not. When I got that right, that was when everything shot off! Right now (what you see music wise) is the fruit of a stable and straight thriving house! Our house is the bomb! We’re happy, the kids are happy – my wife and I, we are one and it is awesome!

ASR: You can tell that the two of you are having fun!

TODD:
Yeah! ..and it didn’t happen after we were blessed. It happened before. It was then that God said, “Ok, now you’re ready to go to the world. Because you’re one.” You can’t go apart. Because just imagine – I’m traveling all of the time. So, if we’re not one before – then once I really get going, that kind of life will just tear you apart. So we’re one – and it’s fun!

ASR: We have a question from one of your fans… “Do you feel that spontaneous worship is counter-cultural to Gospel music, and are there any challenges that you face because of it?”

TODD:
It’s not the norm in Gospel music, but I feel like it’s now – it’s a now song. Whenever you’re spontaneous in God and you allow God to sing whatever you hear, it’s needed. It’s not the norm in Gospel music, but it’s something that we need. The spontaneous song is just like the Rhema word. It is the right now word of God. The song that you hear right now is the song that God is singing over the people. You’ll be surprised, when you sing a spontaneous song, someone in the room could be thinking about suicide and it’s like [that] is the song that needs to be sung that says “get off of me devil”.

ASR: What do you want people to get from this new album release?

TODD DULANEY:
I want them to get music that produces the presence of God. I think that’s my staple. That’s who I am. I’m not in this for anything but to produce the presence of God – that’s it. I think that when they get this record, it’s going to be something they can pray to, lay around in the presence of God to…that’s my agenda. Hopefully, that’s my agenda for the rest of my days.

ASR: Do you have a new found mission statement for everything that you put your hand on in life? Has it changed as you have grown spiritually?

TODD:
I would say my mission statement is still the same. I’ve always said “Let’s put the focus on Jesus – let’s put the focus on the cross” I’ve always been that way, so I don’t think it has changed. The crazy thing is that I think that no matter how far God takes me in business and in music, I try to remind myself that’s what it is regardless. Because what happens is that as you evolve in business and everything, the enemy tries to use the success that God gives you to pull you away from what the vision is. The vision is the cross. The vision is lifting people to the cross. Let’s lead people to Jesus and let’s let them see Him. That’s it. The bigger everything gets, the harder it is to say, “This is the vision” – Because then God gives you new vision. At that point, what I always have to do is take the new vision and say, “It’s still the cross” – It will always be the cross. It will always be Jesus, and what He’s done and the victory He’s given us. I just believe that in worshipping God and creating an atmosphere like that – people will be able to see Him and see His power.

Learn more about Todd Dulaney at www.todddulaneyland.com
Follow him on social media:
www.facebook.com/ToddDulaney
www.twitter.com/ToddDulaney
www.instagram.com/ToddDulaney1

See Our Previous Interviews with Todd Dulaney Below:

Todd Dulaney on the Stellar Awards Red Carpet >>

In Depth Interview with Todd Dulaney >>

ArtSoul Spotlight

ArtSoul Radio Drops Episode 2 Of New IG LIVE Series “Song Stories” (Ft. Wande)

Published

4 years ago

May 16, 2020

Art Soul

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ArtSoul Radio recently launched new IG Live series “Song Stories” hosted by DJ/Host “DJ Standout”! Song Stories is a new Interview Series currently hosted on IG LIVE that gets up close and personal with your favorite artists to learn more about the story behind some of your favorite songs and their journey along the way!

This past week, we dropped our second episode featuring Wande of Reach Records! We got up close and personal with Wande about the inspiration behind her latest album, her musical journey and how she became the 1st female to sign to Lecrae’s label Reach Records! We also touched on her Nigerian immigrant background and much more! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to check out the full replay below today!

Be sure to stay connected for the next interview and don’t miss our weekly giveaways! Details for the giveaways are mentioned at the end of each new episode after the artist’s interview and live performance. So, be sure to watch all the way through. We’ll be sure to keep it interesting!

Scroll down to watch the replay of the full interview and to stream Wande’s newest project release “Exit”.

Watch The Full Replay of “Song Stories” Episode Two

New Video “Happy” By Wande

STREAM THE ALBUM HERE:

Culture

Kim Kardashian Tells ‘The View’ Kanye is Born Again & Gives Clarity On His Traveling Services

Published

5 years ago

September 17, 2019

Art Soul

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Kim Kardashian recently appeared on “The View” where she was asked about Kanye and his traveling “services”. During their conversation, Kim cleared up the rumors of Kanye starting an official “church” and shed new light on his newfound relationship with God.

KIM SPEAKS UP ABOUT KANYE:

When speaking about Kanye’s new found relationship with God, Kim gave everyone a lot more clarity:

Kim: “Kanye started this, I think just to heal himself. It was a really personal thing and it was [originally] just friends and family…and he has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ. People are always asking, ‘Well what are you worshipping and what is this?’… It is a Christian service [but more] like a musical ministry. They talk about Jesus and God and…”

The View: Is there a minister there?

Kim: Sometimes. So, if he goes to a different church as he has, they have shown up and done these surprise little pop up Sunday services at other churches. So, whatever Pastor speaks there…and sometimes like the one in Calabasas, he’ll have friends that are Pastors in town get up and speak. But, for the most part, it’s just a musical ministry. He doesn’t have his 501c3 yet to make it an official church. But, it is for God and it’s a Christian church…I think think that’s why some people were like ‘What is this and what are they doing?’ But, it started off feeling for him and now its become something that he just really wants to share for everybody else.”

In late August, Kim posted video clips of Sunday service on her Insta story and snuck in a photo of a piece of paper next to an open Bible containing West’s new album title Jesus Is King, track listing and a release date set for Sept. 27.

The tracklist for the album reflects his recent traveling experiences and his wife’s recent mention of his new found relationship with God:
“Baptized,” “Sweet Jesus,” “Garden,” “Selah” and “Water” are just some of the tracks coming soon on his new album. West and his Sunday Service choir premiered “Water” during a Sunday Service session at Coachella Easter weekend and recently made stops in Chicago and Atlanta.

Watch Kanye’s Traveling Music Experience In Atlanta:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=kFeN094pt8w

Hip Hop

ArtSoul Radio Sits Down With Indie Hip Hop Artist “Brian Keith”

Published

5 years ago

July 11, 2019

Al-Yejo Asoboyejo

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“It’s Brain Keith Baby!” Have you heard this introduction before? If not you’re sure in for a treat. This kind, humble, fun loving, and energetic man of God is someone you will fall in love with after just one time meeting him. In this sit down interview you will have a chance to learn more about Brain Keith and how he has been a huge inspiration to so many people.

ArtSoul Radio : It’s so nice to have you here with us today. We appreciate you taking out this time to do this interview. To get things started off, let’s dig deep into your musical background and how you got introduced to music?

Brain Keith : That is a very good question to ask, my musical background comes from many different things. Growing up I listened to a lot of different genres and popular artists that where around my city of Dallas, Texas. In fourth grade I was introduced to classical music and started playing the cello. Outside of playing the cello, I also remember practicing my rhymes in front of a mirror in my bedroom. There, I envisioned performing in front of an audience, and I honestly believe that is where the seed was planted.

ArtSoul Radio : Wow, that is something you don’t hear everyday! You really don’t hear much about rappers having a touch of classical music in their early development. The next question we have for you comes from your positive content and willingness to put yourself out there. Tell us why it is so important for you to relate to people with your music and not hold back anything?

Brain Keith : It is important to me because I believe sometimes, us being apart of the body of Christ, miss out on being transparent; and letting people know even though we are professing the goodness of God we still have our own issues and shortcomings. God is gracious enough, and merciful enough to look passed our imperfections. We are able to have this because God gave us his son Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins.

ArtSoul Radio : That is a very good word, and something many could potential relate to. Understanding that you are in a position where you are called to minister your many talents and gifts. What is it like managing being a rapper, dj, show promoter, youth pastor, and family man? Do you have moments where you want to go insane?

Brain Keith : Man look, it’s by the grace of God because I find myself sometimes being overly busy that I can’t have an intimate relationship with our God. I am constantly in prayer asking him to help me seek out better time management skills so I have a relationship that is strong. I don’t want to meet him at the gate one day and he tells me to turn away you worker of iniquity I never knew you.

ArtSoul Radio: Agreed, that would be a terrible situation for anyone to be in. We must continue to be disciplined in finding that quality time with God.

Recently you have put out an awesome music video for your latest single titled Masterpiece. Tell us the story behind this powerful song, and how you came up with this concept?

Brain Keith : The background on the song Masterpiece, stems back to what I spoke about previously. Having an importance on being transparent and pushing to see that we all are a mess and we make mistakes. Doesn’t matter if we are T.D. Jakes or one of the lowest scums of the earth. God sees us as royalty and something that is so precious to him. A revelation I had one day after painting really put things into perspective for me. We come into this world as a blank canvas and when paint splatters on us that represents our imperfections. Now after going through my whole creative process and completing my art, I realized even though we might go through tough times and have flaws; God ultimately will be the one to show us that we are works of art, true masterpieces.

ArtSoul Radio : Thank you for breaking down your song, it makes so much more sense now knowing the background story. Your song provides hope and a sense of pride in loving who exactly God, has called us all to be.

Brain Keith : Thank you so much for that, that means a lot. I strive to give my audience only music that is from my heart. I can’t make music just to sell records.

ArtSoul Radio : No problem at all, this actually transitions very well into our last question for you. We wanted to know if someone was to listen to your music for the first time no matter the location; what would you hope they get out of it?

Brain Keith : I would hope that they got a sense of self worth, love, and knowing that they are not alone because God loves them. I talk more about these topics in my upcoming album I am working on currently.

ArtSoul Radio : Amen to that, once again we appreciate you taking the time to sit with us for an interview. We can’t wait to hear your new album.