Emanuel Wynter

There’s a moment in “From Orbit,” the title track from Emanuel Wynter’s new live album, where the vocalist/violinist and his ace band slip gravity’s grasp — and celebrate that feeling. Nimble bass, pile-driving drums and trilling keyboards trace a cross-stitch groove, creating a space for Wynter’s playful and romantic vocals to soar.

“Weightless infatuation/ While we’re dancing on Saturn’s rings/ Won’t take for granted the times we made/ Laid it all down by Jupiter again…”

Is Wynter remembering and cherishing a brief affair and casting his tale among a fanciful star field? The imagery may be cosmic, but the conviction in Wynter’s fine grained, melodic voice is down to earth.


“I’m free falling from orbit/ Streaking through the night sky/ I’m on my way home, back home … It ain’t easy coming down…”

“[It’s] a song about feeling very happy …[with] emotional euphoria ,” Wynter tells Queen City Nerve. “Having that moment and coming down from it, but still being happy, knowing that it’s coming again.”

On From Orbit, Wynter’s sophomore album that drops Oct. 20, his ebullient yet grounded songs embrace a broad emotional spectrum. Love, loss, nostalgia and imagination all jostle for a fleeting yet joyous moment in the spotlight. The music that acts as jewelers’ settings for these gemstone melodies is similarly diverse yet coherent.



One moment Curt Keys’ shimmering keyboards are ethereal, the next they are grounded yet rolling gospel organ. Victor Payton-Webber’s bass growls and prowls like a big cat before traipsing sprightly around the beat. Justin Allen’s elastic drumming ranges from jazzy hissing hi-hats to a full on hard-rock stomp.

Speaking of rock, Nero Tindal IV’s guitar can kick back with shimmering harp-like glissandos before unleashing coruscating runs that streak crackling contrails of feedback. Wynter’s violin — which has enlivened projects by 9daytrip, Sticks & Stones and other local bands — harkens to Stéphane Grappelli’s gypsy-jazz bowing and Vassar Clements’ rapid-fire bluegrass fiddling.

His playing hits an outer edge as well, unleashing corkscrewing bagpipe skirls and screech owl screams.

“I say that my music is R&B,” Wynter says. “I mean, it isn’t and it is. There are definitely rock influences in my sound. [It’s the] intersection between rock and soul.”

Wynter’s vocals provide much of that soul. They are inviting and upbeat yet they contain a soupcon of grit, an underlying gravitas that brings the band’s jazzy/psychedelic/shoegaze/R&B explorations down to earth. For all of Wynter’s adventurous excursions, home seems to be the final destination for “From Orbit.”

One of the most powerful emotions expressed by the song is the flood of feelings unleashed by a homecoming. Perhaps that’s why the album was recorded live at The Evening Muse, which has been a kind of professional home for Wynter.

Learn more: The Little Music Club That Could: The Evening Muse Turns 20

“I love the Evening Muse,” says Wynter, who debuted his first release, “Cosmos,” at the iconic NoDa club. “It’s the first place I ever did a full band show. I wanted it to be the place where I recorded my first live album.”

To reference an album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, with From Orbit, Emanuel Wynter is bringing it all back home. He performs at Middle C Jazz on Oct. 19, sharing a bill with the Harvey Cummings Project as part of the newly returned Confluence Music Festival and Convention.

Songs to learn and sing
Growing up in New York, Emanuel Wynter had a lot of opportunities to encounter music, yet credits his mother, Seranne, for imbuing him with a love of music.

“She did a really good job of exposing me to things,” he says. “We would see different productions of concerts at the Lincoln Center. I saw Wynton Marsalis there.”

Despite marquee names like Marsalis, Wynter says he was inspired to pick up a violin after seeing his cousin perform with the instrument at a recital. At the age of 6, Wynter enrolled in a violin class at Alexander Robinson School on the Upper West Side. When he changed schools to be closer to his home in the Bronx, Wynter continued his training with private lessons.

Emanuel Wynter plays violin onstage at Evening Muse
Emanuel Wynter performs at Evening Muse. (Photo by Daniel Coston)
In 2007, Wynter’s family moved to Charlotte. Despite the culture shock involved with experiencing a scarcity of subways and seeing cows grazing from the window of his school bus, Wynter gradually acclimated to life in the Queen City. One bright spot was JazzArts Charlotte and its JazzArts Academy, currently at the VAPA Center in Uptown.

When he was in first grade in New York, Wynter was exposed to the Suzuki method. Created by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki, the Suzuki method creates an environment for learning music that is patterned after the linguistic environment of acquiring a language. Using listening, imitation, and repetition, the method posits that most people can learn to play an instrument as if it were their native tongue.

Wynter says he enjoyed the Suzuki method with its emphasis on ear training. That training came in handy when Wynter ventured beyond classical music in high school and started listening to and playing contemporary styles like blues, rock and jazz.

“JazzArts … opened my eyes to playing things that aren’t written,” Wynter says. “Whether you’re improvising [or] coming up with your own melodies, they really laid it out for me. It was an awesome program.”


Learning ensemble playing was also a big benefit from studying at JazzArts, Wynter says. He credits the program with teaching him what he calls “sonic literature.”

“If you think of music like literature … you get vocabulary from it,” Wynter says.

For instance, by studying the work of jazz violinist Regina Carter, Wynter says he learned musical grammar — a player’s respective note choices, inflection and playing.

“That can inform me as a string player [about] my options, that maybe I haven’t thought about before listening to her,” Wynter says.

Emanuel Wynter plays violin in the background, with his band standing onstage with him
Emanuel Wynter performs at Evening Muse. (Photo by Daniel Coston)
Songwriting was sparked gradually for Wynter, first by writing verses for fun when he was in high school. After that, he attended UNC Greensboro to study interior architecture. In college, Wynter hung out with a group of friends who would freestyle regularly.

“We used to share poetry with each other,” Wynter remembers. “It helped me develop my pen, but I wasn’t sharing.”

Even though school was in Greensboro, Wynter developed his live performance chops playing downstate in Charlotte. Soon he started getting gigs in the Queen City, and he regularly attended open mics, particularly at The Evening Muse.


This led to Wynter becoming a hired gun, playing with bands like All of a Kind, where he met bassist All Pat Hulsey and late drummer Antonio “Animal” Brown. When Hulsey decamped for Sticks & Stones and Brown joined 9daytrip, Wynter started playing with those two bands.

In December 2016, Wynter dropped out of college and started doing music full-time. By 2017, he started singing for 9daytrip, gradually gaining confidence in his vocal abilities.

“I didn’t write ‘Cosmos’ until September in 2017,” Wynter says. “That was the first song I had written with the intention of putting it out.”

It wasn’t until the summer of 2018, however, that Wynter played the song live for the first time at The Evening Muse.

A songwriter turns to his muse
With crystalline jazz guitar, a warmly embracing funk groove and Wynter’s smooth neo-soul vocals, “Cosmos” is a limpid and swaying slow dance that charts a course for the violinist and songwriter’s subsequent career: “In the cosmos, we’re dancing/ In harmony/ I’ll take no steps for granted/ But all the time I need…”

“From the moment I wrote ‘Cosmos’ I wanted to get a band together so I can play this stuff live,” Wynter says. Soon he had written enough material to put out a debut album. “I was getting some opportunities to play [the songs] solo, but I really wanted to get a band together,” Wynter recalls.

His first full band show came in July 2019 at The Evening Muse. In February 2020, Wynter and his band released These Past Two Years. The romantic yet introspective collection of eight songs included “Cosmos” as well as the sunny and sashaying “Iced Coffee,” one of the friendliest and most vulnerable come-ons ever recorded.

“Just tryna shake this mood I’m in/ I just need a little help, baby/ Turn it all around just with a grin/ I like caramel in my iced coffee…”



There was no single working method for writing the album’s material, Wynter says. For instance, “Iced Coffee” began as an earworm melody that Wynter couldn’t get out of his head.

“I don’t really have one firm process,” Wynter says. “[Each song] is different, and I think it’s exciting because it’s not uniform, it’s not the same every time.”

In addition to romantic love, an overriding theme throughout the album is nostalgia. It imbues the front-porch swing of “Last Year’s Avenue” and its front and center in the genre jumping soul jazz of “These Walls.”



“In the [realm of] nostalgia there is wanting to go back, but there is also the understanding [that] you have to move forward,” Wynter says.

In that regard, From Orbit, is all about moving ahead. At the beginning of 2022, it had been two years since Wynter had put out any new music, and he was writing songs for a completely different studio project. To get the new songs on their feet, Wynter started playing them with his band, which had evolved into its current lineup of guitarist Nero Tindal IV, keyboardist Curt Keys, bassist Victor Payton-Webber and drummer Justin Allen.

“I felt what we were doing live was really cool; the band was hitting its stride,” Wynter says. “All those guys know each other. They’ve all played with each other outside of playing with me, so there’s chemistry between them.”

A blurred photo of the artist
Emanuel Wynter performs at Evening Muse. (Photo by Daniel Coston)
Wynter realized that he was excited for people to see and hear the band live. The realization encouraged Wynter to draw inspiration from the live albums he loved so well, John Mayer’s Live at the Nokia Theater and John Legend’s Live at S.O.B.’s from back when he still went by John Stephens.

“I [have] a deep admiration for the magic that’s in live albums when the band gets together and plays in front of people,” Wynter says. “There’s energy there that is incredible and it can’t be replicated in the studio.”

Wynter also felt he had grown as an artist, singer and player — and he wanted to showcase that. As much as Wynter was proud of his old material, he wanted to show people that he was going somewhere, and not trapped in a past defined by “Cosmos.”


From Orbit showcases 10 tracks, eight of which are new originals, recorded live on Feb. 9, 2023. Unlike some live albums, which collect tracks from several shows, the album is a document of one gig on a particular winter’s evening at The Muse.

“The technical logistics of getting things recorded, it’s easier to do it all at one place,” Wynter says.”So, we had a few rehearsals to get everything together, and it ended up being a really beautiful night.”

Not even the fan who accosted Wynter after he got off the stage because the band hadn’t played “Iced Coffee” could break the evening’s ethereal spell.

Emanuel Wynter performs onstage at Evening Muse
Emanuel Wynter performs at Evening Muse. (Photo by Daniel Coston)
Given the album’s focus on all new original material, Wynter’s fans may be confused that the band chose to record two covers as part of the set.

“The cover songs that we played — I wanted them to fit. I wanted them to make sense,” Wynter says.
A cover of contemporary blues-rock guitarist Gary Clark Jr.’s “You Saved Me” fits because Clark is one of Wynter’s favorite artists.

“[Clark] has this big, heavy and aggressive blues-rock sound, but he also has strong hip-hop and soul influences in his music,” Wynter says.

As he describes Clark’s sound and its emotional influence on the listener, it echoes what many say about Wynter’s own sound. “It’s like floating through outer space. It’s rock, it’s soulful, and gorgeous.”


Perhaps the most surprising cover is an ethereal yet hard-rocking take on MGMT’s “Electric Feel.” Wynter’s version starts softly like a field recording. Payton-Webber’s pulsing bass, Allen’s clicking and hissing percussion and plucked pizzicato strings gradually grow in volume.

As Wynter’s emotive, wistful vocals tumble out, you feel he’s singing from the heart. Then, Keys’ keyboards flutter and hover like a UFO as Tindal’s spidery streamers of guitar streak across the soundscape.

As chugging bass charges into the fray, its clear this version rocks hard, with an unhinged pinwheeling electric guitar ripping through spectral keyboard washes at warp speed.


“The way that we do ‘Electric Feel’ is cool and unique,” Wynter says. “It simmers and it’s spacey and psychedelic. Then it gets big and high energy.”

It’s a testament to Wynter and his band that they can take on such a popular and iconic song and make it their own. Wynter hopes that listeners to From Orbit come away with a sense that life is fleeting, and we all should strive to live in the moment. He feels that the album is no less introspective than These Past Two Years — with one distinct difference.

“The big thing people will notice is that I’m coming into myself,” Wynter says. “I think I’m better able to get across what I want to get across. I know what I want to sound like, and I’m better able to get that sound. As far as the Emanuel Wynter dreamy references [to] astronomy, they’re still in there, but there’s also a lot more energy.” - Pat Moran

Emanuel Wynter continues encircling into his own with his sophomore release, “From Orbit.”

Recorded in February during a show at Wynter’s homebase at the Evening Muse in Charlotte, ”From Orbit,” sets the stage for a trajectory amongst soul and stars–tied to earth through Wynter’s trademark violin strings — accented by a cast of seasoned players, sentimental musings, and a slanted ear toward rock’n’roll.

“I tend to write a lot about love and love lost,” Wynter admitted. “There’s a lot of nostalgia. There’s a lot of personal reflection. I’m definitely leaning more into my rock bag. It’s still soulful, though. I feel like I’m getting better at creating and materializing what’s in my mind.”

With an eye to the heavens, “I’ve always been fascinated by how vast the universe is,” he continued, relaying the progression of his work across lifetimes and metaphysics. “The floating rock we live on is the only home we as humans have ever known, yet it orbits a star that is similar to billions of others. There’s beauty tucked away in nothingness, and that’s how I feel about the human experience.”

Tying that experience to references in his debut single, “Cosmos,” “things like love and joy can come around and give us new excitement in a life that can feel very ordinary and routine,” Wynter said. “Whether they last for a lifetime or for an instant, we should enjoy them like we enjoy the moon in the sky or a planet in transit.”

Looking back at the gravity of music in his lifetime, Wynter first began playing violin as a first-grader living in the Bronx. “I had an aptitude for it and fell in love with it pretty quickly,” he explained. “I did the Suzuki Method, which involved a lot of ear training and reading music.”


Carrying his appetite and traditions as his family moved to Charlotte, “I didn’t branch out into contemporary styles of music until I was in high school,” he noted. ”I was very interested in jazz and the blues, and I wanted to be able to play that stuff on the violin.”

Delving into more contemporary stylings, Wynter carries major influences from artists like Gary Clark Jr., Anthony Hamilton, and Leon Bridges. “Their songs have touched me deeply,” he said. “And they have rich, unique voices that are great at conveying the emotions behind the music.”

“Gary Clark Jr.’s ‘You Saved Me’ is probably one of my favorite songs of all-time,” Wynter continued, plugging the cover track that found its way to “From Orbit.”

“I love the sounds he gets out of his guitar and the ways his music blends rock, blues, and soul in ways that speak to me.”

TUNES_StreetsideByTrent.JPG
Photo by Trent

Emanuel Wynter
Clark’s influence expanded beyond a single song inclusion — with Wynter listing “Live” amongst motivators behind releasing “From Orbit” as a live album. “John Mayer, D’Angelo, and PJ Morton have all also put out incredible live records,” he said. “Speaking of PJ Morton, I love how he’ll release a project and then put out a live version. His live recording of ‘Gumbo’ definitely was a big inspiration for me.”

“And Thee Sacred Souls — they make me feel warm and fuzzy,” Wynter continued, recollecting the warm and fuzzy summer’s day in 2022 and the first formations of “From Orbit.”

“I‘d fully committed to the idea of recording and releasing a live album,” he explained. “The first song I wrote with this plan in mind was ‘Stranger;’ and I spent the last half of the year writing and refining the songs that would be on the record.”

Toying with titles and concepts, Wynter settled on his favorite track at the time: “From Orbit.”


“I recorded demo versions of all the songs and brought them to my band to rehearse. From that point, it was like preparing for a show. It was all in a set list, so when you listen to the album, that’s the order of the songs we played on the night of the recording.”

Blending covers (MGMT’s “Electric Feel” gets its own feel — ”I’ve been playing for a few years,” Wynter noted. “I really like the way we do it: It’s dreamy. It’s ethereal. It’s dynamic,”) and all-new originals, “From Orbit” ultimately took shape in front of a live audience at The Evening Muse.

“It was a beautiful night,” Wynter gushed. “It’s one of my favorite venues in Charlotte — the first place I ever performed my original music, so there was really no other place I’d rather record a live album.” Elora Dash offered what Wynter described as an appropriately “stellar” performance to open the evening. “Everything fell right into place,” he mused — with gratitude.

“Usually, live albums are recorded from a tour,” he continued, relaying the set at stake, ”and the best performance of each song throughout that tour is picked to be on the record. But we didn’t have a tour — the plan was to record everything that night.”

Typically calm in the face of an audience, “the expectation weighed on me a bit,” Wynter admitted — praising his band: Nero Tindal IV, Curt Keyz, Victor Payton-Webber, and Justin Allen; along with the evening’s sound engineer, Joe Kuhlmann. “They were solid and supportive, and they each did an amazing job. The room was full of life and energy. I’m very thankful for the experience.”

As he orbits the phases from record to release, “I’ve definitely come into my own as a writer and as a performer,” he said, offering “From Orbit” as “a timestamp of where I’m at now. I’m proud of my growth as an artist.”

Along the galaxies of that growth, Wynter’s solo career is on the horizon — in tandem with his work in the studio and on-stage in groups like 9daytrip (to whom he credits helping boost confidence in his voice). “Funny enough, I used to be very shy about singing in front of an audience,” he said, “shout out to Shelby Stover for sticking a microphone in front of me at a show. I started singing with those guys and never looked back.”

“Thankfully, I’ve had the opportunity to be in and work with several bands before starting my own,” he continued, redirecting toward his own orbit and what lies ahead. “I’ve gotten a good idea of what it looks like. Of course, I’m still learning. I’ll always be learning.”

The pursuit of knowledge actually led Wynter to study at UNC-Greensboro for a few years — linking up with artists like Sam Foster, Demeanor, and Ashley Virginia. “Working with Sam at Earthtones was a lot of fun,” Wynter said. “Most of the time, I get asked to record something folky or do string arrangements on a song, but Sam told me that he specifically wanted an electric violin. I was happy to oblige.”

“Every once in a while, I’m able to meet up with Demeanor,” he continued, reflecting on his times in the Triad. “We’re both usually busy, so it’s always a good time hanging out, and we usually end up making up something.” Referencing a vault of unreleased tracks, Wynter pointed to his guitar work on Demeanor’s 2023 single, “ALL FOR ME,” featuring Ashley Virginia; and his shows at the Carolina Theatre as part of Studio 176’s Underground Now residency and Colin Cutler’s Songwriters in the Round.

Around Greensboro, Wynter also appeared in the “Around Town Sessions” music video series, performing tracks off his 2020 debut record “These Past Two Years,” in College Hill’s Springdale Park. “Recording was a lot of fun and I still enjoy watching other episodes,” he said. “Greensboro has a lot of charm to it, and the series does a great job at capturing it.”

With no Triad shows on his immediate horizon, “I’m beginning my next phase as an artist, and I’m excited to share it when the time comes,” Wynter said, with plans to circle back this way soon.

“From Orbit” is out now via streaming platforms.



Katei Cranford is a Triad music nerd who enjoys spotlighting artists and events. - Katei Cranford

Singer-songwriter Emanuel Wynter describes his music as somewhere between R&B and rock, but it’s also much more.

In his words, "It’s soulful. It’s gonna groove, it’s gonna grab you and take you on a ride, and it’s fun."

The Charlotte artist has cool confident vocals, hitting both notes and feels, as heard on his recent live album recorded last February at The Evening Muse.

In addition to singing, Wynter also takes up the electric violin in a style you’d never hear in a classical concert. He said he began learning violin in the first grade when he was growing up in New York City.

"At that time, my mom and I were looking at different instruments for me to play, because she grew up playing music in her childhood," he said. "She played piano, and she really appreciated what that did for her. So as a mother, she was like, 'OK, my child is going to play some instrument. It doesn't matter which one.'"

Initially, Wynter thought he might like the trumpet, but then felt more drawn to the violin.

He started with his school’s violin class, then took private lessons as he grew older. As he entered high school, and his family moved to Charlotte, he found himself listening to fewer classical composers and more rock and blues.

"I was like, man, I’m listening to B.B. King, and Gary Clark Jr., because he was kind of coming onto the scene at the time. I was like, 'Man, I want to do that with my violin.' I was kind of in my head, but I didn’t have an example for that," he said.

It wasn’t until high school that Wynter learned about jazz and blues violinists like Stéphane Grappelli, Regina Carter, Stuff Smith and Papa John Creach that he learned what was possible with his instrument.

It was at that time that he purchased his first electric violin.

Nick de la Canal: When you did start playing the electric violin, was it like — I don’t know, was it like a revelation, where you’re like, 'Oh, this — this I can work with.'

Emanuel Wynter: Yeah it was like that. It felt like I was opening up a whole new world of possibilities. It was very exciting.

De la Canal: Your music often has these moments when it feels like the band is taking off, and you included. And I’m thinking of one track in particular called "You Saved Me” from your live album, and this is a cover of a Gary Clark Jr. song. I had to listen to this several times because I couldn’t figure out if this solo was a violin or a guitar. But that is you on the violin.


Trent Ryden
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Courtesy
De la Canal: What do you think are the main differences between playing an electric guitar versus a violin, and what’s the advantage of playing a violin over a guitar?

Wynter: I feel like for me, especially because I’ve been playing violin since I was in the first grade, I have an easier time kind of expressing the different sound palettes that I want with a bow. Jimi Hendrix is another artist I listened to a lot of and really admire, and if you listen to some of his stuff, he’ll hit a note and it will sustain, and then it will start to feedback. It sounds really wild and weird, and violins won’t do that. But if you release pressure with your left hand on the string, you can kinda mimic that sound.

De la Canal: You say you’re drawn to writing about nostalgia and love. You also have a few references to stars and astrology. Your first single was "Cosmos." Your last album is titled "From Orbit." In the title track, you sing about coming home from orbit, you’ll see your love soon.

What is it about those subjects that draw you to write about them?

Wynter: So when I was young, in addition to being into music, I was also into astronomy. Loved astronomy in school. I mean, as humans we’ve been looking up to the stars for as long as we’ve been around, and there’s a lot of really beautiful things up there, with as vast as it is, with as much of nothing that’s up there, there are a lot of things that you can pinpoint and look at and go, 'Oh wow, that’s really incredible.'

And I like to relate that to the lives that we live. I mean, we’re here, and I feel like with a lot of us, it’s easy to fall into the routine or fall into the regular go-around. But there are things that can happen in our lives that are captivating and alluring and that make you feel like life isn’t just so ordinary.

De la Canal: Looking back, how much are you today making the music that you the teenager, or you the kid, would have wanted to hear?

Wynter: Oh man, I truly think that me as a kid would be mind-blown, especially with the live album that I put out in October. From when I was that age, I would search for live recordings of the people I listened to. I was like, OK, I want to hear B.B. King live. I want to hear John Mayer live, Gary Clark Jr. live, and I would listen to all of those and be so wowed by the energy in the room that somehow makes its way through the recording that you can feel and hear, and I would always think, 'Wow, I would really want to do that someday.'

De la Canal: And now you have.

Wynter: And now I have. Yeah. I think high school me would be pretty impressed. - Nick de la Canal