Maxwell brings Serenade Tour to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville

On Sunday night, Grammy Award-winning R&B and soul singer Maxwell will bring his special “Sumthin' Sumthin'” to Nashville.

The Serenade 2024 North American Tour makes a stop at Music City's Bridgestone Arena with two special guests: singer-songwriter October London and R&B star Jazmine Sullivan.

The 51-year-old singer-songwriter and record producer, born Gerald Maxwell Rivera, is best known for his sweet, singing voice and songs like “Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)” and “Pretty Wings.”

The Serenade Tour kicked off September 14th at the Hard Rock Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida and will run for 25 dates, with Nashville playing as the tenth date.

In an interview with The Tennessean before his stop in Nashville, Maxwell opened up vulnerably about his nervousness on stage and finding a way out of the songwriting rut.

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“28 years later I still have butterflies”

If there's one word to sum up how Maxwell is feeling as he begins his tour, it's “grateful.”

“I went in with faith and didn’t believe the reaction,” he said.

After seeing ticket sales increase after the second and third shows of the tour, Maxwell was in disbelief.

“I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude at the response and that people are showing up and still caring.”

And despite his gratitude and extensive performance experience since the mid-1990s, Maxwell admitted he still suffers from major stage fright.

“It’s kind of crazy that I got into this (career),” Maxwell said.

While he's worried about the current tour, he added that “your weaknesses can be your greatest strengths.”

More music:Soul singer Maxwell announces tour that will lead to Nashville with Jazmine Sullivan

“I really care about them, you know?” Maxwell said, speaking about his audience. “I mean, I really want them to be happy. I really want them to go home feeling like they were suspended for a moment – that all their worries stopped for just a second, that they could just go back to a state of nostalgia, joy.

“That's probably why I'm so nervous because I always wonder if I'm really up to the challenge of doing this for so many people every night,” he said.

“I'm nervous every time I go on stage. 28 years later I still have butterflies.”

Maxwell thinks Jazmine Sullivan is the “singer Simone Biles”

Throughout the interview, Maxwell doesn't shy away from singing the praises of his opening statements. London is a 2022 signee to Snoop Dogg's Death Row Records and Grammy-winning singer Sullivan is the voice behind “Bust Your Windows,” “Pick Up Your Feelings” and “Roster.”

“For me, this show is almost a refreshing opportunity to remind people that singing is a craft and not just a gift,” Maxwell said, specifying that one has to work on a career as a singer. “It’s something where you have to put your head down and keep learning.”

Every evening, Maxwell watches this ship from the backstage as he watches his tour guests. Maxwell said London's voice was “undefeated” and he called Sullivan one of the greatest voices of her generation.

“There's no denying it…she's anointed in every sense of the word,” he said.

Since Maxwell had the opportunity to tour with Sullivan in 2008, he has had the privilege of watching them grow and develop; He feels proud when he watches them, he said, almost in a family way.

“People don't realize that her writing skills are nothing to sneeze at either,” he added, mistaking Sullivan for the “singer Simone Biles.”

“There is no filtering. You can’t pretend the microphone is on – it is on.”

“And it’s refreshing to be around people who can sing. And in Jasmine’s case, sang,” he said, spelling out “SANG.”

Maxwell on where R&B stands as a genre

While London, Sullivan and Maxwell are considered by many to be three of the most respected voices in R&B, Maxwell admits that the genre can sometimes feel pigeonholed.

“Some things are categorized and seen a certain way depending on who does them and who doesn’t,” he said. “I think we’re in a good position when it comes to R&B.”

But Maxwell finds it unfortunate that R&B and soul music can be “divided depending on what someone looks like.”

“That's the part of R&B that's really frustrating because if I were white and sang what I sing, I'd be called a pop artist,” he said. “Am I right?”

In a genre whose artists are predominantly black, as opposed to a majority of white artists in popular music, Maxwell's observations carry weight. When it comes to white artists with an R&B sound categorized as pop, he said, “You don't have any control over how they're categorized, do you?” Nobody has that.”

From the start, Maxwell didn’t know what genre he would “fit” into. And when some first called him “neo-soul,” he had never heard the term before.

“If you want to call me that, fine,” he said. “As long as I keep making the music I want to make.

Maxwell continues to sing, write and focus on joy

After enduring a pandemic-induced depression, Maxwell said he had bursts of inspiration, ran off to record new tunes on his phone and started writing songs again. His voice notes “are out of control right now.”

“I never want to write from there,” he said, referring to his negative mood caused by the pandemic. “I mean, I can be gloomy… but I don't want to be affected by pandemic depression.”

And now Maxwell feels revitalized again.

“It's been really refreshing lately to be able to make up songs out of thin air like I used to. You know, this is something that has left me. I thought it was dead, and now I think it’s very much alive.”

He credits the tour with bringing back that vitality, adding that it was important to surround himself with “raw talent.”

On Sunday, Maxwell is ready to bring that talent to Music City.

“Some of the most brilliant musicians have come from Nashville,” he said, adding that he had thought about moving to the city in the past.

“I love Nashville and am grateful to all the people who were there and came to support and see the music, and I look forward to seeing and serving everyone,” he said.

“At the highest level, it is an act of service. … I am very grateful that I was able to turn my passion into a calling.”

Maxwell brings Serenade Tour to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville

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