Atlanta-based soul crooner Van Hunt is what one would call a rare breed of musician who loves literally everything about his job.

Of course, virtually every musician loves the groupies; the natural high of playing in front of a different crowd every night; and writing songs that have the potential to make an impact in someone’s life and, even further, in music history. However, virtually every musician despises other components of the job that aren’t all that glamorous. From the interviews and music videos to the studio mixing process to the long bouts of time spent away from family and friends, most musicians would rather do without if possible. Nevertheless, Van Hunt, 26, said he likes it all and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Van Hunt gained exposure to music as a child by way of his father who worked as a part-time painter and pimp (no joke), and surrounded himself around what one would call an eclectic group of personalities, including musicians.

On one hand, the Ohio-native Van Hunt evokes an ardent sense of lyrical prowess on issues such as death, unrequited love and the Zen spirit of living in the moment. On the other hand, he manifests a wild, outlandish and humorous tone to topics like the labor of love and casual flirtation.

This style trademark to Van Hunt quite possibly stems from a no-holds-barred kind of childhood. On one occasion, his father spent a summer at a mental hospital after faking an illness that was really a scheme to take a leave of absence from his listless job as a factory worker.

Van Hunt’s new self-titled record is an album that critics are categorizing with the likes of the neo-soul crew – Erykah Badu, India Arie, D’Angelo – with influences like Ray Charles, Sly and the Family Stone, Prince, Al Green and Stevie Wonder.

The Beach Reporter this week sat down with Van Hunt and talked about his work and his first loves in the songwriting process: lyrics and melodies.

The Beach Reporter: You enlist the talent of drummer Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos, Brad Mehldau, Sarah McLachlan and Fiona Apple), who is one of my favorite drummers playing today. How did you come to select the musicians who play on the new album?

Hunt: Well, when it came to Capitol, I was playing the stuff myself but I had some guys in mind whom I wanted to use and it just so happened to be some of the same guys whom the president of my label used when he was producing. He called them and they called a few others, so it turned into that kind of a thing. That’s how I was introduced to Matt, to Dave Campbell, Wendy Melvoin, etc.

The song ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ is a rather romantic song with its notion of appreciating those small, inconsequential moments in life. Would you consider yourself a romantic at heart?

Oh yeah, definitely. At heart, at feet or whatever, yes, I think I’m definitely a romantic. Yeah, I guess that song is romantic.

The song ‘Hello, Goodbye’ is about a person walking in and out of someone’s life, and it sounds like a pretty complicated situation.

Well, it’s funny because the lyrical content of the song was in place before I actually got to it. The guy who plays bass with me, Curtis Whitehead, he had the chorus and the lyrics, which were so straightforward, if you will, and I’m not really a straightforward kind of person. It’s a lot more fun for me to meander and embellish on something simple, and so that was a very difficult song for me to write because I was trying to add some complexity to a very simple kind of thought in my head, but yet maintain the simplicity. Kind of what (Bob) Dylan used to and still does so well. But at the end of the day, it’s just a little R&B funk song.

In singing someone else’s lyrics, how do you go about stepping into a space where you are able to recreate the emotions suitable to those lyrics?

It’s actually been pretty easy for me because I’ve seen people go through their problems, and I see how they respond and react. I can pretty much conjure up the emotions that they might be feeling in certain kinds of situations. I don’t know if that makes me a good actor or not, but that’s pretty much what it is.

You mentioned singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Is he one of your influences?

No, actually, I mean I like some of his songs, but he’s a difficult listen for me, I’ve got to be honest. I like the record “Time Out of Mind,” I think it’s really funky, and “Blonde On Blonde” obviously. I love the stuff he does with Daniel Lanois (producer/ musician). But no, he wasn’t a big influence on me, but I do think he’s an incredible writer.

Who then are some of your influences from a lyrical standpoint?

Zora Neale Hurston (African-American 20th-century female author who wrote among many works, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”), and James Baldwin (20th-century African-American male author who wrote “Sonny’s Blues”) just because he’s always throwing something shocking into his writing.

Based on the song ‘Precious,’ I’d say Stevie Wonder influences you.

Well, “Precious” is a straight 1950s/ 1960s Ray Charles/Sam Cooke kind of soul. It has very traditional chords and progressions, and Stevie was very into that as well. He came up through the school of Motown which was all about the late 1950s/1960s songwriting, and that’s really where the song comes from. But Stevie is another person who wasn’t that big of an influence on me. I like what he did but it has always been about the lyrics for me and that’s probably why I like Prince so much. He also adds a level of debauchery, and I’ve always dug that, even as a child. I get the same thing from Ray Charles and the same thing from Sly (and the Family Stone). I can see them at the piano, writing their songs, smoking their cigarette surrounded by women or whatever.

Do you like to start off on the piano when writing a song?

It doesn’t matter to me. Most of my ideas come to me in my head. They just pop out because there is constantly music going on in my head. I don’t listen to that much music outside what I hear in my head because there is just so much going on, so it starts to get confusing. Even the stuff I really, really like I don’t listen to that often.

Why do you think that is?

It’s just hard for me. There are a few exceptions: Sly Stone, “There’s a Riot Going On” or pretty much any record from him. I can listen to Neil Young, especially “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.” That’s a record I wear very well. Iggy Pop and the Stooges like “Funhouse,” I can listen to all the time.

With the song ‘Hold My Hand,’ the lyrical meter reminds me more of a poem than a song and with that comes a simple musical arrangement. Do your songs, in terms of music and lyrics, come together at once?

There is usually a melody that pops into my head or a phrase and these ideas are the two primary ways my songs come together. I’m just feeling good, I’m driving, something just pops into my head and I go from there. I usually have a melody I can put to a phrase or a phrase I can put to a melody. The actual music is really easy to do; you can do it in a myriad of ways and arrange all kinds of progressions, and that part is fun but it’s more mathematical. The creative side to it for me is the lyrical part. This phrase means this; what kind of feeling do I want to evoke; OK, that probably needs to be a nine (type of chord), so I’ll play it in a nine. Writing the music is fun but the real reward for me is the lyric and the melody.

Your record makes mention of the art of the relationship with a woman. What do you think you want out of a relationship?

What I want is certainly companionship, and also somebody whom I can completely relax and be honest with. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen because nobody in the world needs to know everything of what’s going on in your mind. I’ve come to find that out, so I like having different friends whom I share different things with.

The opening lines of ‘What Can I Say’ are beautiful but also very sad because it’s about someone who is remembering someone who has died.

Yes, the young lady in the song has lost her mother and the only time she can spend with her mother is in her dreams or at night when she feels the presence of her mother, and she has come to enjoy that time of the day. It’s the anguish of waiting all day for that moment and then having to let it go without having any control over it.

The song ‘Down in Hell’ is a song about spending time in hell with your significant other rather than being in heaven where it’s nice but you don’t really learn anything new about yourself. It’s a funny song, is it supposed to be?

Yes, that’s what it is, and I think after you meet me, it’s easy to tell that everything I do is kind of tongue-in-cheek. It’s funny to me when people say living with somebody is pure hell. It’s the idea that’s cool — I’d still rather work it out with you in hell than go to heaven and have absolutely nothing to do.

Is music something you’ve always been into even as a kid?

Yeah, that, basketball and UCLA. That was it for me. I wanted to play music, play basketball and go to UCLA. I’m from Ohio, but it was all about the blue and gold, that was it. I didn’t attend college and went straight for the music career. I actually said, “If I didn’t have an album out by the time I was 21 I was going to quit.” I knew music well and I wanted to take the shortcut, but I realized there were some things I needed to learn and experiences I needed to go through in order for me to write these songs.