James Weldon and friends throw a Sunday night party at World Cafe Live

Funkitorium vocalists Arthur Thomas and Re-Mus joined in the mix for guest vocal appearances on a couple new songs, but the star of the night (aside from Weldon himself) was Sinnia Brown, aka Queen Maya, who took the stage early for a guest turn on “Free My Soul” and never left, acting as hype person one moment and taking center stage on a dynamic run next.

By far the standout during Weldon’s set was a stirring unreleased song called “Sneakers on a Wire,” a meditation on gun violence in Philadelphia with one verse told from the perspective of a shooter and the other from the perspective of a victim. With bars that travel beyond finger-pointing and dig into root causes, it shows that Weldon’s greatest gift as a storyteller is empathy, and this song has us curious to hear what he does next.

Check out a gallery of photos from the concert below.