Tiwayo - Outsider

Nicknamed “The Young Old” for a voice that carries timeless weight, the Paris-born soul singer and songwriter returns with a powerful album produced by Black Pumas' Adrián Quesada.

Outsider marks the triumphant comeback of a bohemian spirit who has busked and traveled across the world, absorbing the blues, soul, and gospel roots that continue to shape his music.

After the acclaimed debut album, The Gypsy Soul of Tiwayo, on legendary Blue Note Records, Tiwayo had nearly vanished from the scene before Adrian Quesada heard his demos and pulled him back into the spotlight. Their paths crossed at France’s Les Eurockéennes festival, leading Tiwayo from Paris to Austin and into Adrian Quesada’s Electric Deluxe Studio. There, he and Quesada forged a raw, genre-bending take on soul, with contributions from Black Pumas members and other leading lights of the retro-soul scene. Doyle Bramhall II, longtime Eric Clapton collaborator, lends guitar to three tracks, including “Daddy Was Born with the Blues,” Tiwayo’s tribute to his late father, enriched by strings from Sly5thAve. Brooklyn’s Kendra Morris (Colemine Records) joins him for “Unchained Lovers,” a velvet-smooth duet steeped in Hi Records southern tradition.

While many modern retro-soul acts lean toward Motown polish, Tiwayo’s sound remains raw, uncompromising, and rooted in Southern soul traditions — a lineage he once touched firsthand when meeting the Reverend Al Green in Memphis.

On Outsider , Tiwayo reflects on what it means to be an artist (“I’ve Got to Travel Alone”), slyly grooves on “Up for Soul,” celebrates everyday beauty (“Sunshine Lady,” “My House Is Your Home”), and finds resilience in loss (“Dark Skies”). With tight grooves and vivid storytelling, the album is both intimate and collective, deeply human and unflinchingly honest.

Tiwayo doesn’t play by the genre’s rules. He stands apart: a Frenchman in Texas, a soul singer with a bluesman’s heart, a traveler who never quite belongs anywhere. In a world of polished revivals, Tiwayo embraces being the outsider — an anti-hero of soul who proves that the raw and unvarnished carry the deepest power.

For Fans Of: Black Pumas, Michael Kiwanuka, Leon Bridges, Curtis Harding