Obi Alfred is bringing old R&B to a new audience and serving as a torchbearer for the genre. Born in New Jersey and bred in Texas, the Nigerian-American’s unique approach pays respect to the titans of the genre while pushing into daring, current terrain. Now, with the most captivating songs of his early career, Obi is establishing himself as one of the most significant emerging talents...

Before you can even properly settle into Tim Camrose’s new single, “Going to Nashville,” your mind gets delightfully snagged on the backstory. For forty years, this man was a surgeon and a professor—a life measured in scalpels and lecture halls, not chord progressions. It’s impossible not to picture those same steady hands, once dedicated to mending human bodies, now tracing the frets of a...