“As Above, So Below.” The ancient Hermetic saying from the legendary Emerald Tablet declares what is the above is from the below, and the below is from the above, and all these works of wonders are from the one (the source). Heady stuff for an R&B album title, but the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Anthony David has never been the kind of soul artist to “speak loudly, but say nothing.”

Eventually, at the urging of friend India.Arie, the 23 year-old David finally picked up the guitar and…it felt like home. Local fans soon came for an invitation to David’s musical sanctuary and suddenly the ordinary was extraordinary.The interiors and exteriors of regular life were acoustically elevated to high art on his debut, 3 Chords and The Truth.With the Grammy-nominated duet, “Words,” David and long-time friend Arie continued their award-winning singing and songwriting partnership, this time for a radio hit that originally appeared in 2006 on his sophomore and final release for Brash, The Red Clay Chronicles. The single received repeat business on his major label debut, the Billboard Top 30 R&B album Acey Ducey, for Universal/Republic. While “Words” got national airplay and reached #53 on the Billboard R&B charts, searing confessions like “Better Than,” the five-finger cover of Level 42’s “Something About You,” and warm hallmarks to home like “Kinfolk” and “Smoke One” from Red Clay Chronicles got Anthony David the critical acclaim and a loyal, ever-expanding fan base.

Often considered the heir-apparent to troubadour Bill Withers, with As Above, So Below, David is elbowing a space for intelligent lyrics and a grown man’s voice in a scene that’s in a race to be young. A student of Wither’s lyricism; the masculine rhythms of Beres Hammond and Frankie Beverly; the storytelling of Slick Rick, T.I., and Jay-Z; and the blues of Lightning Hopkins, Howling Wolf, and T-bone Walker, David is ushering back the kind of masculine soul that men can identify with and that ladies can nestle up to. With As Above, the thinker extends nourishment for the mind. With As Below, the lover provides nourishment for the flesh. And, with his latest release, Anthony David ever remains nourishment for the soul.