Gumbo (PJ Morton album)

In 2016, Morton moved to New Orleans and opened a record label called Morton Records which he envisioned as "the New Orleans Motown."^[2][3] 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 [something] beautiful. 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."^[4] 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.^[5] On July 1, 2016, Morton released the Sticking to My Guns EP, featuring the single of the same name.^[6] 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".^[7] On March 13, 2017, Morton announced on his Instagram page April 14, 2017 as the release date of Gumbo.^[8]

On April 21, 2015, Morton released an early version of "Claustrophobic", a song in which Morton expresses his frustrations with the music industry.^[9] 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".^[10] 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.^[11]

"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 on iTunes.

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.^[12]

Gumbo was positively reviewed by a number of critics. Jonathan Landrum Jr. of The Washington Post 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."^[13] Producer Warryn Campbell, who has worked with Kanye West, R. Kelly and Alicia Keys, posted on his Instagram page that "Gumbo" is the "album of the decade."^[14][15] 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.^[16] L. Michael Gipson of Soul Tracks wrote that the set is, "Perhaps Morton's most grown and fulfilling in years."^[17] In short, Hip Hop producer, 9th Wonder, posted to his IG account that Gumbo is, "refreshing...this album is jamming."^[14]

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.^[1]

Despite being critically acclaimed, the album has been seen as a commercial failure. Gumbo failed to enter on the US Billboard 200 chart. Still, it debuted number 10 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. - an astounding feat for an indie album without major radio airplay support.^[18] 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 and number 30 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Album chart.^[14]