My baby brother in Baltimore just ain’t knee-deep into rhythm and grooves the way I am. He could care less about who produced what or sang backgrounds on whatever; so, when the boy gets a musical obsession I know that it must be something special. The last time I can remember this happening was in 2001 when India Arie released her debut disc Acoustic Soul.

Picking me up from the bus station for that year’s Christmas visit, we zoomed down the highway that chilly night as India’s voice floated like a specter of positivity through the car. Arie’s voice had a haunting quality that was not what I had expected after the Tracy Chapman-esque “Brown Skin.”

For the next two weeks, India Arie’s songs were all I heard. Though at first listen I had written her off as being too granola, I was soon impressed with the musicality as well as the lyrics. Indeed, Acoustic Soul was a breath of fresh air compared to the suicide sounds of Tricky, Massive Attack and Potishead that I was into at the time.

“The main criticism about my work is that it’s too positive,” laughs Arie. She has been chilling at her home in Atlanta between her upcoming summer tours including an opening slot on the John Legend tour and headlining a Soul Summer show on July 4th in Orlando. “As a black woman, I always felt the pain was implied.”

Author Felicia Pride, author of The Message: 100 Life Lessons From Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs (Running Press), was also an instant fan of Arie’s stellar first album. “When India burst onto the scene, we hadn’t seen an artist like her before who would go on to achieve so much success—including the highly coveted cosign of Oprah Winfrey,” Pride says. “She was a black woman wielding a guitar singing about shaving her legs irregularly and loving herself.”

Having recently released her latest album Testimony: Vol. 2: Love & Politics, the Grammy-winner has already started thinking about the direction of her next project.

“Since the beginning of my career people have been comparing me to Joni Mitchell, but it took me a while to really listen to her music,” India admits. “I just finished reading this book about Joni, Carole King and Carly Simon called Girls Like Us, so I’m into that sound at the moment. That kind of folksy music that is real emotional and confessional.”

In addition, she has also been bumping the hippie soundtracks of Crosby, Stills & Nash and their Laurel Canyon cohorts. “The only artist of that period I can’t listen to is Bob Dylan. His lyrics are wonderful, but I don’t get that voice.”

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