JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Bobby Wintons Jr., professionally known as Bob on Keys, traces the sound that has taken him from church pews in Apalachicola to Billboard recognition and international tour buses back to one simple beginning: family, the church and an 88-key keyboard.<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview with Wintons below.<\/p>\n
Wintons said his earliest memory of music is playing the drums for his church, which he credited his mother for getting his start with the instrument. He said he wasn\u2019t that good of a drummer, so he was allowed to play the slow songs. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe sings, writes, does plays, she does her own music so she\u2019s a super huge influence on me as a musician,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A young Bobby Wintons Jr. playing the drums at his church. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
His Uncle Toby plays the keys and he has many other family members who sing as well.<\/p>\n
Wintons switched from drums to piano around age 12 or 13. He later moved with his family to Jacksonville after they connected with The Potter\u2019s House, where his mother taught and he attended the Potter\u2019s House Christian Academy.<\/p>\n
Expanding his musical horizons through collaboration<\/p>\n
The church foundation gave way to other musical rooms. In high school, he played jazz with a local band, learning key basslines and standards that would expand his musical vocabulary. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy first instance of any music outside of church was jazz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Playing Friday night gigs as a teenager gave him early experience recreating and respecting songs across genres.<\/p>\n
That broad musical education \u2014 from gospel to jazz to trap \u2014 informs his approach in the studio. <\/p>\n
Though he\u2019s not from Jacksonville, he\u2019s worked with local artists Akai<\/a> and Ebonique<\/a>. He said it\u2019s important for him to build community among the artists right in his backyard.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the main things that I like to do is collaborate with different artists…and bring a different side that they might not be used to working with other producers,\u201d Wintons said.<\/p>\n He described his creative process as half random experimentation and half intentional work tailored to the artist in mind. <\/p>\n Bob on Keys on stage with Yung Bleu (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n Collaboration is central to his work. Wintons said a period of studio sessions with producers DJ Shab and Keem Turbo helped him develop a reliable formula.<\/p>\n \u2018It happens fast\u2019: Billboard 200 recognition<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time [Keem] got to the drums it was like, \u2018Yeah, this is it,\u2019\u201d he said of those sessions. The team approach helped produce songs that caught wider attention.<\/p>\n One of those tracks, produced with the group, became his first Billboard credit. Wintons worked on a song titled \u201cLoner\u201d by rapper Boston Richey that later appeared on the Billboard 200, earning him his first chart plaque.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just go to the studio and cook,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it happens kind of fast. He posted a snippet online and a week later it was out there.\u201d<\/p>\n His studio work led to higher-profile collaborations and live dates, including serving as Music Director with rap artist Yung Bleu while on tour and recording sessions with artists such as Nardo Wick, Sada Baby and Melvin Crispell III.<\/p>\n ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JUNE 15: Rapper Nardo Wick performs during 21 Savage American Dream Tour at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood on June 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams\/WireImage) (2024 Prince Williams)<\/p>\n Wintons recalled an early studio moment with Nardo Wick \u2014 who initially thought Wintons was the studio manager \u2014 when Nardo discovered he plays keys and asked him to teach a song ahead of a Rolling Loud performance.<\/p>\n He also spent time away from music, playing football at Alabama State, before returning to Jacksonville and committing to music full-time. <\/p>\n \u201cCollege was dope,\u201d he said. \u201cI met so many different musicians. It opened my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018You gotta go learn\u2019: Maintaining a signature sound<\/p>\n To stay relevant while keeping his signature sound, Wintons studies widely. He urged young musicians to learn multiple genres, perform in cover bands and absorb the feel of different musical traditions. <\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, EDM, house, everything has its true essence,\u201d he said. \u201cYou gotta go and learn from those people who make that music.\u201d<\/p>\n For those trying to break into music locally, his advice was practical: balance skill with personality. <\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to just be skillful and nobody wants to work with you,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you also don\u2019t want to be so cool and not really know what you\u2019re doing. Have a balance of skill and personality.\u201d<\/p>\n He emphasized preparation and professionalism. Being \u201ca good steward\u201d of his craft, he said, means showing up ready and exceeding expectations. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen someone [calls] me for a session, I try to be super prepared, like overly prepared,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On stage, Wintons said the payoff is immediate. Live performance demands the rehearsal and musicianship that studio work builds, and crowd energy fuels improvisation.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying live is all I did before studio,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all in real time. You can\u2019t go back and change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind the Board, I am…<\/p>\n \u201cPassionate,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the best way I can explain it, that\u2019s where the passion comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob on Keys continues to produce, perform and travel while staying rooted in the musical lessons of his family and church. He said his goal is simple: make music that serves its purpose \u2014 to make people dance, cry or worship \u2014 and to reach the listeners it was meant to reach.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we hear a song, it automatically makes you feel a certain way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Bobby Wintons Jr., professionally known as Bob on Keys, traces the sound that has taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[133848,122246,104,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-323284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-behind-the-board","tag-black-music-month","tag-entertainment","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}