He was five years old in the bathtub at his grandmother’s house, singing the only song stuck in his head. Pocahontas. “Colors of the Wind.”

His grandmother came running.

“Sing it again,” she said. “Sing it again.” Then she picked up the landline — back when phones still had cords — and called everyone who needed to hear it. By that Sunday, he was in the church choir, the way most Black children with a voice end up in the church choir. By the year after, he had an agent. Most second-graders do not have an agent.

Dre has known since he was five that he was made for the stage. What he is doing now is finally bringing the rest of Columbus with him.

On this episode of TalkBack, Kin+’s weekly podcast, I sat down with Columbus singer-songwriter Dre — known to many through his work with the legendary local band Liquid Crystal Project — as the opening conversation in our Arts Festival Sessions, a five-episode special series previewing this year’s Columbus Arts Festival, in partnership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

He is the first of five. He sets the tone for the four that follow.

On why he came here

Dre is not from Columbus. He moved fifteen years ago for one reason: he heard Liquid Crystal Project play a soundcheck and could not bring himself to leave. He told me what he and his friend Cece — now Cece Arrington — said to each other in the bathroom that night. They’re amazing. He moved as soon as he could.

That detail matters. Columbus is full of Columbus-by-choice artists, the ones who could have stayed where they came from and did not. Dre is one of them. So is the band he came here to be near.

On being the asset

When I asked Dre what he wanted to say to the artists and entrepreneurs in this audience, he did not flinch.

“You yourself are the asset,” he said. “You can call it your brand, but your actual person is the asset, and that’s what you have to protect first.”

Then he named his manager. He named his band. He named his stylists, his background vocalists, his set designer. He named the people who make Dre look like Dre when the lights come up. It is the kind of credit-giving you do not always hear from artists.

It is also the kind of credit-giving that tells you what kind of leader he is.

On the word he picked for Friday

I asked Dre for one word to describe what he and the band are bringing to the Festival’s Main Stage on Friday night.

“Fresh.”

That was the whole answer. New music. New layout. New color. New ideas. He told me to get there at 5:45 — partly for parking, but mostly because too many great Columbus artists are on before and after him, and he doesn’t want anybody missing the music. He also wants you finding the vendors, especially the Black-owned and woman-owned booths he hits at every Fest.

I am taking him at his word.

On what’s coming next

His debut solo album has been sitting on a shelf on purpose. Dre has kept it offline, off the streaming services, off the algorithm — an exclusive release for when the moment is right. He told me later this year would be perfect.

You heard it on TalkBack first.

🎧 Subscribe to Kin+ so it lands in your inbox the moment it goes live.

🎨 Catch Dre live at the Columbus Arts Festival — Friday, June 12, Main Stage, 7:00 PM set. The Festival runs June 12–14 on the downtown riverfront. Free, all weekend, all welcome.

Share

The Arts Festival Sessions is a five-episode special series of TalkBack, presented in partnership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council, producers of the Columbus Arts Festival. Watch for the rest of the series featuring Candace O’Neal, Renee Dion, and Tracy Powell of House of Isa, dropping each Thursday between now and Festival Eve.

Welcome Home, Kinfolk.

— DaVante’ Goins is Founder and CEO of Kin Worldwide and Editor-in-Chief of Kin+.