Interview: Richard Smallwood stands on the ‘Promises’ (Part 2)

In the conclusion of this two-part series DC’s most prominent gospel artist Richard Smallwood discusses growing up in DC, his thoughts on hymns, his activism at Howard University, music education and what’s next after Promises.

The Atlanta native has a deep love for his adopted home of DC and held his Official CD Release Celebration in the DC area at Reid Temple A.M.E. where the community came out in large numbers to support one of their own. He says, “I love DC. It is my absolute heart.” Smallwood’s stepfather was a church planter which required frequent moves. “My stepfather was a minister and he would go from city to city founding different churches so from the time I was born until I was 10 I probably lived in at least 14 or 15 different cities.”

Although he has achieved phenomenal success Smallwood chose to remain in the DC area. He explains…..

RS: We sort of took root here when I was 10 or 11 and I never wanted to live anywhere else. As long as they have planes and trains and buses and cars and I can get to where I’m going then I’ll get there. But this is home for me. I love the people here, I love DC, love the area. It’s the best place in the country for me.

While there isn’t a hymn on Promises he does sample the 1886 hymn, “Standing on the Promises of God” on the track “Standing." He shared why he believes hymns still matter.

RS: I think hymns are one of the most important genres that we have and sometimes I get nervous that with all of the praise and worship, which is wonderful and other newer genres of music that we forget the hymns. But the hymns are the ones that brought us over. And those hymns I think are lyrically some of the most beautiful, theologically sound and encouraging genres of music that we have. When I grew up I had to learn to play almost every hymn in the hymn book. It was a requirement in order to play for church. You had to learn how to play everything and so I’m grateful for the upbringing that I had. And I certainly pray that the hymns will always be there because some of those hymns, when you get into a valley situation those hymns will bring you through so I think they are very important.

Smallwood attended historic Howard University. Many people are familiar with the Howard Gospel Choir (HGC), a choir with many stellar alumni. HGC is actually the result of the efforts of a group of determined young college activists. While he did not lead the protest Smallwood played a pivotal role and says he was “a willing participant.” Read more……

RS: It was the most radical thing we did at Howard University at the time that I was there. We were only able to study classical music. We were not able to study jazz or any black forms of music. Gospel certainly was a no-no. So we decided that because we didn’t have any formal courses in the history of black music or listen to black composers, other than the classical genre, we would take over the Fine Arts building. We pulled the piano out in front of the steps and I played gospel music and we sang from sun up to sun down for about five or six days and wouldn’t let anybody in the building until the dean would hear our requests about the curriculum. So that’s basically how we got the jazz department and the black studies program because before then we really didn’t have anything of that nature. The gospel choir was formed somewhere around that same general area. I think that there was a lot of unrest on the campus from the students about the way the university was being run and the lack of some of the black courses that we had.

The students in the Pentecostal Association decided to put together a one-night revival on Howard’s campus just to remind us of where we came from. They got one of the students from the School of Divinity to preach who was the Rev. Willie Wilson (now pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church). They put out flyers to get a choir together to sing for that night. They approached me to become one of the musicians and to help teach the choir as well. So that’s really how the choir came about. We got all our friends and put out the flyers throughout the campus about students coming together for that particular night and formed the gospel choir that way. And of course it was so successful after that night that we decided to have it as an ongoing thing and it’s still going today.

Gospel music is pretty much accepted in the mainstream today. Do you think, based on your experiences that it’s more appreciated now as an art form in the academic world?

RS: Well, I would like to think so. I think it depends. Certainly it’s sung and listened to everywhere and by everyone. I was telling someone not long ago that I had a Jewish organization of realtors call me and wanted to know if I would come and do a concert at the opening of their realtors’ conference. I was like “you know that I sing gospel” but they were like “yes, but we love the way it makes us feel and we love the way it sounds”, so everybody basically loves gospel music.

I think however, there are still some of those purists on the academic level who still haven’t gotten it yet. I’m hoping that it’s not as bad as it was when I was in school but I still have run into some situations where it’s still prevalent in some university settings. However, a lot of universities have now embraced it. In fact, the University of the District of Columbia had for a long time a degree that you could get in gospel music headed by the late Dr. Pearl Williams Jones. So certainly it’s changed some from when I started, but I think we still could get some more acceptance on the academic level in a lot of situations.

For thirty years the maestro has served as an instructor at the Hawkins Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference, teaching hundreds, if not thousands, songwriting over the years. He shared how important it is that singers and musicians be educated in their craft.

RS: I think it’s imperative. You know God gave us His best and I think it’s so important that we give Him back our best. In order to be the best that we can be we need to have a foundation in whatever craft or whatever gift that God has given us, whether it be voice, instrumental, songwriting or whatever. I think the more educated we are in what it is that we do, the better we can become and the more diverse we can become in what it is that we do.

Certainly fans would like to know what’s next now that Promises is at the top of the Billboard chart. Will fans finally get an instrumental album that showcases his musicianship?

RS: I don’t know. I haven’t even thought of that. I’m just concentrating on this CD. I’m touring with the CD right now and going to different churches all over the country singing with their choirs, usually “Trust Me” which is the single, singing that with them and performing some of the other songs from the CD and introducing them to it. We also usually have a Q&A at the end of the service where the congregation and all the people who are in attendance can ask me questions about the ministry, my life or whatever. At the end we sell CDs and I autograph them for everyone. We’ve been doing that for about three weeks. I understand it will go through the rest of the summer and part of the fall. But right now that’s basically what I’m concentrating on.

His autobiography….

RS: I must say there is one thing I’ll do when I finally get a chance to get a little bit of a break from this. I’m going to be starting on my autobiography which I’m excited about. It took me a while to make up my mind to do it. A lot of times I think people look at you and look in terms of what the artist has done and your success and they think you came from a perfect background, you know you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. I had some very challenging times as a kid so I want to write about that and some of the outcomes from those challenging times that I had to deal with as an adult. So I want to write about that to encourage other people that it doesn’t matter where you come from. If God has pre-ordained you for something and if God has His hand on you, you can overcome any kind of situation and become who it is that He wants you to be.

God-ordained, anointed and his humility appear to be the perfect combination for the maestro’s success. No doubt Richard Smallwood has etched a huge footprint in the gospel world as he continues to stand on the Promises of God.

Purchase Promises at www.richardsmallwood.com, iTunes and Walmart. To book the Promises tour contact loxentertainment@aol.com