Jonny P

Sharing the same era as Leon Bridges and Andra Day, Bronx native Jonny P—born Powell—crafts retro-soul as a singer and songwriter. Immersed from childhood in gospel, R&B, and hip-hop, he waited until college to commit to a professional singing path and only began composing material in his mid-twenties, coinciding with his relocation to Nashville. Evoking early Motown textures, the self-released debut EP Right to You surfaced during summer 2014. To record his follow-up project he traveled to Los Angeles, enlisting drummer James Gadson (Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers) and, through that connection, mixing engineer Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Amy Winehouse). Prior to the EP’s arrival he received word of a small part in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, the film centered on the 1967 riot, prompting another trip to L.A. for production. The five-track Good to You finally appeared via Big Picnic Records in April 2017, four months before the movie’s premiere.