Jovin Webb Debuts New Single in Advance of Sophomore Album

*There is currently no live performance in NJ attached to this episode.*

In today's episode, Gina speaks with the talented blues artist, Jovin Webb. Perhaps you’ve seen him on American Idol, maybe you’ve been following him since his early days or perhaps this is your first introduction to his soulful music but no matter the journey, he is an artist to follow moving forward.

His raw and emotive debut album, “Drifter,” out on the iconic blues label, Blind Pig, released in 2024. The 12-song collection is a vibrant mix of growling low-down blues, Jovin’s wailing harmonica, heartfelt soul ballads, and rowdy, Little Richards-style rock 'n' roll.

His newest album, “Son of a Sinner” on the same label has recently been announced and will drop September 18th. The first single off that record, “Pray for Me” is included at the end of this episode.

Jovin and Gina take a moment to chat about his music and share a little love for his home of Louisiana. Stick around to meet Mr. Jovin Webb.

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

Welcome And Artist Introduction

Gina Marie Rodriguez 0:03

This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts Podcast. On today's episode, I'm speaking with the talented blues artist Jovin Webb. Perhaps you've seen him on American Idol. Maybe you've been following him since the early days. Or perhaps this is your first introduction to his soulful music. But no matter the journey, he's an artist to follow moving forward. His raw and emotive debut album, Drifter, out on the iconic blues label Blind Pig, released in 2024. The 12-song collection is a vibrant mix of growling, low-down blues, Jovin's wailing harmonica, heartfelt soul ballads, and rowdy little Richard style rock and roll. Now please note that at the time of recording this episode, Joven was scheduled for an appearance at the Lizzie Rose Music Room. Unfortunately, that performance was cancelled. So we ask that you please disregard the brief mentions of this show. We hope that you'll stick around to meet Mr. Jovin Webb. We'll be talking about his music, the desire to visit New Jersey, and sharing a little love for his home of Louisiana. I want to say thank you so much for being with me today. I'm really excited to talk to you. I've been listening to your music on a loop now and pretending that I too can sing. Uh, spoiler, I can't. I've I've been really enjoying your voice, and I'm looking forward to talking to you about your latest album and about your upcoming performance. Let's just start by asking, how are you doing? How's it going?

Jovin Webb 1:27

Oh, good, good, good, good. It's uh start of a busy weekend for music. I'm feeling pretty good.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 1:33

Yeah, do you have uh a show coming up tomorrow, I want to say?

Jovin Webb 1:36

Uh today. I have uh two today, two tomorrow, and one Sunday.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 1:41

Oh, just kidding, you're super busy. That's amazing.

Jovin Webb 1:44

Yeah.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 1:44

I

Why Music Felt Inevitable

Gina Marie Rodriguez 1:45

I want to talk to you about why music. Like how did you discover your love for music? What was that journey like for you?

Jovin Webb 1:54

Uh it was it it wasn't a choice, it was innate. Like coming out the womb, just you know, hearing my parents with music and dancing and beating on popping pants with drums. Uh I'm a drummer at heart. So it was from from the start, as far as I can remember, music was involved.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 2:12

I think that's fantastic. I love hearing when people say that it's innate, that they didn't really have a choice, they were born into that life. But I did hear that I I had heard that you had had some hard times in the music world for a bit before you landed on American Idol. And I wanted to ask you what that before and after was like for you. What

Life Before And After Idol

Gina Marie Rodriguez 2:33

was life before American Idol and what has it become since?

Jovin Webb 2:39

Um, before American Idol, it was it was basically uh it was around my time when I was, you know, I guess a couple years after I had been, I guess, putting in work to to really try to make this music a full-time thing. So it was it was it was it was fresh, nobody really knew where I was. I mean, people around town did, because I had started like posting videos of me doing karaoke and stuff like that, so people kind of knew. And then I was uh just getting into one of my first real bands. So it was it was like the start of everything. And as soon as I started to get, you know, acclimated and and feeling how to be a front man, the American Idol thing happened. Which was it was perfect timing, because uh about the time I actually got on the show, I had kind of somewhat figured out who I was. So um it was it was it was it's weird when when people kind of know about you and and nobody really says anything and and you get compliments, it's like it's cool, just I like what you're doing. Hope you make it, and then you get on stuff like American Idol and everybody dude, you on TV? You know, like it's people people people that's what treats you different.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 3:45

I can imagine when millions of people are watching you and rooting for you. That's I I mean, I have never been on a competition show, uh, but I'm curious what what is that experience like? What kind

Competition Pressure And Stage Craft

Gina Marie Rodriguez 3:58

of pressure are you feeling knowing that this isn't just about performance, it's about competition.

Jovin Webb 4:04

Just like anybody that's uh that'll tell you that's been on one of those shows, it's it's anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. And um it's just figuring out how to how to block out certain things and stay focused, is chaotic from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. The big thing about that, which which is I'm thankful for what that show was, because it just like you said, it taught me exactly that it wasn't just about singing. It was about like the total package from the stage, is you know, uh song choice, and it's so much more that goes into it. So that that woke me up as far as that aspect.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 4:37

But safe to say it was worth it.

Jovin Webb 4:40

Oh yes, oh yes, of course, of course. It was a little like a boot camp type thing.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 4:45

Boot

More Than Blues As A Sound

Gina Marie Rodriguez 4:46

camp is a really good way to explain that. So you sing blues, and I'm gonna preface this by saying that I'm the worst person to ask about musical genres because I don't know much about music. Um, I know that I like what I hear. So that's that's my skill set, being able to tell you what I like. But your voice to me feels made for the blues, and I guess I'm asking, how did you decide blues? Right? Like there there's so many different genres. How did you find your way to that genre? Or is that what you feel that you were born into?

Jovin Webb 5:25

Well, I um I am a blues singer, but I'm so much more than that. I I'm like I I like to say in my shows, you're gonna you're gonna hear uh blues, you're gonna hear soul, you're gonna hear rock and roll with a hint of gospel. So I I in my shows, I repeat that is because that's who I am. I'm I'm not just some blue some blues singer, I'm I'm all the things. Like you're gonna you're gonna get a dabble of everything that made me who I am. And I guess uh to answer your question, how I got here, is um Southern gospel, Southern gospel music, uh when I was growing up was really hard-driven in the blues lane, and you know, the blues in the soul lane. So that's that's all I I grew up listening to, so I I couldn't run from it. But as I got older, I realized that the blues wasn't just the stereotypic uh the stereotypical picture of what we see as a blues. Blues has uh has influenced every genre from from uh country to rock and roll to jazz. So my earliest introduction to that was gospel soul music. It has all the elements of everything we listen to.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 6:27

Well,

Drifter And Gospel Redemption

Gina Marie Rodriguez 6:28

you're starting to touch on my next question, so I I do want to move to that. Your album, Drifter, you've said is the sound of a blues life searching for gospel redemption. Can you expound upon that?

Jovin Webb 6:43

It's the blues. Uh the blues is about love, loss, mistakes, um, triumphs, trial, tribulations. And uh it's not a it's not a it's not an easy life. You can't speak about the blues and not know about it. And and and what what I say amongst that is like uh I I used to hear in uh you know from older school people and and even movies like Ray, where there's a scene where um one of the guys came into his show and he says, You can't you can't mix the devil music with the gospel music. So so it's like basically um realizing that yes, you are teetering the line. And and and just like I said, how how blues kinda like you know jumps over to different things. As blues musicians, we we we know where a lot of that soul comes from, so it comes from church. And a lot of times people like to think, oh times you go sing blues, I'm gonna sing this. I can't, I can't be spiritual, I can't be godly, I can't be this, I can't be that. And I I think the exact opposite. I think uh, you know, we were made to push the line. So when when I when I when I talk about my failures, all these things, when I hope for redemption, I look back to religion is the place where it all started.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 8:00

I love that. Made to push the line. That's I love that. Uh and also I'm having like this imagery of sinners in my head right now, the movie where he's carrying his guitar back into the church. Anyway, I appreciate that explanation because it helped me give me a visual for that. I

Bottom Of A Bottle Meaning

Gina Marie Rodriguez 8:18

also wanted to ask you specifically about your song Bottom of a Bottle, which I love and have been listening to like I don't know, 50,000 times over. I we we lost count. But what does that song mean to you? And I think we might have a sample of it.

Jovin Webb 8:57

Don't know where I've been, but the ball tender knows me as soon as I walk in. Again, I wrote that song out of pure experience, and and and maybe just from where I'm raised from. Uh, I'm in right here in southern Louisiana, and uh it's it's rich in culture as far as the music, as far as you know, just every everything around from the food to how you feel. And that's that's very thick around here. And if you're in southern Louisiana, you're gonna feel it. But along with the with the having fun comes a lot of drinking. So I mean, if we're gonna be honest, it's the blues and it's about you know those type of things. So uh I just talked about something that I've I've I've seen, I've been a part of, and just kind of a culture. We we we drink a lot. We we any any occasion we get, we we we toast it. So that I was that was kind of about that, and it was just like about the nightlife and you know, people that have have have been where I've been in those old dirty dive bars spending nights uh trying to find something or fix something, and you find your way in in in the in the local bar. So that's what that was about.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 10:10

I when I was listening to it, I understood the the literal implications of of drinking in the bottom of a bottle, of course. But I think part of me, and maybe this was you know projecting my own issues onto it, but I was thinking of it as though another human being was the bottle, you know, and that this person was your drug. That's that's how I was interpreting it.

Jovin Webb 10:35

Oh yeah, it's it's it's it's it's all about just in just indulgence.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 10:40

Well, I love that song, and that's why I've been listening to it a bunch.

Louisiana Culture Food And Nightlife

Gina Marie Rodriguez 10:44

But you also talked about Louisiana, and even though this is a Jersey-centric podcast, I did want to ask you um, how would you encourage folks to come and experience Louisiana? That's your home, that's your love. How do you get people to visit and appreciate it the same way?

Jovin Webb 10:59

If you want some of the best music and some of the best food in your life, come Louisiana. You're gonna see us rich in culture, rich in the people, and rich in everything here. We got our ups and our downs. And uh, and if you just want to feel a camaraderie, uh a place that you can be yourself, is come on Louisiana. Plus, everybody wants a crawfish.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 11:20

I'm sold. As soon as you said food, I was I'm there. Food is. We should just make this podcast entirely about crawfish next. But we don't have time for that. So unfortunately, I'm gonna instead go back to asking you about about music. And

Advice For Artists And Social Media

Gina Marie Rodriguez 11:41

I like to ask every musician that I speak to what advice you have for up-and-coming artists, for aspiring musicians, students, or or folks who've been at it for a long time who are on that verge of giving up.

Jovin Webb 11:54

Uh my my advice is um, I mean, from experience, don't. You you gotta believe in yourself bigger than uh before anybody else believe in you. You gotta you gotta sell it to yourself. You gotta you you gotta practice, you gotta you gotta master your craft. Uh study the greats to become great. Um use social media as your friend, is it is gonna help you, even though like a lot of times artists complain about um you know it it it being bigger than just singing now, because now we're in an age of social media and all these different apps, and you have to be present. So instead of looking at it looking at it like a burden, use it as a as a tool to to to just get you out there. That's the only way you it can work. People gotta hear you, people gotta see your face, you gotta know who you are. Do it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 12:39

That's important. I think a lot of artists get tripped up on the idea of branding, right? And that's what social media essentially is, it's branding yourself. But it is it's important because like you said, how else are we gonna know you? Yeah, you put yourself out there.

Jovin Webb 12:54

Find your find your find your find your lane, your uh targeted demographically that way. And like and then and once you I mean, I got people that started watching me like right before I got on American Idol to them, what, uh, six years later still following me and and showing so much support. But it's you gotta find those people, and once you find those loyal people, they they're gonna stick by you.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 13:15

I

New Jersey Show And New Music

Gina Marie Rodriguez 13:16

love that. I know we were just talking about how amazing Louisiana is, but I have to pivot and say how amazing Jersey is now. Have you been to Jersey before?

Jovin Webb 13:24

I think uh airport in passing. That's that's about it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 13:28

So this is gonna be an experience for you when you come to the Lizzie Rose music room. It's a small venue, but it's a really it's a sweet venue. So I think you're gonna be excited by it. And I hope, I mean, I don't know that you will, but I hope you'll have time to explore a little more.

Jovin Webb 13:41

Hopefully. Uh just depends. Usually we're on the run, but uh if we get a chance, we like to to see what you know each place has to offer.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 13:48

Fingers crossed, because Jersey does have a lot to offer. But is there anything you'd like to say to our New Jersey audiences uh in advance of your show?

Jovin Webb 13:57

Like I said in in the beginning where I started, just be ready for some blues, some souls, some rock and roll and gospel. We're gonna give it to you authentically in our own way, and and here come Louisiana boys.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 14:09

I love it. I'm excited. I can't wait. I've like I said, I've been listening to your album over and over now, so I'm excited. Will you be playing um songs from Drifter and more, or what is your focus for this show?

Jovin Webb 14:21

From this this show, you you you're gonna get um songs from Drifter that that came out on 2024. But you'll also be getting a sneak peek of a few songs for my new album. Um, I don't know if I should or can be saying the name of it right now. Okay, just uh um there is a new album coming out. I'm I'm getting ready to uh to release the name of it and all that stuff in my first single coming next month. So I'm just trying to be as discreet as possible without making the label pissed off. But uh you you're gonna get some songs from the you have some songs from the new album as well. And it's just gonna be a good time because we're gonna do mom music, we're gonna do covers and we're gonna have fun.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 14:59

I love it. I'm so excited. I almost got a scoop there, but that's okay. I don't want to piss off your label. So we're happy that there's a new album coming.

Jovin Webb 15:06

September 18th.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 15:08

Oh, September 18th. That's awesome. Looking forward to it. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Jovin Webb 15:12

Thank you, thank you.

Gina Marie Rodriguez 15:14

Well,

New Album Reveal And Closing Notes

Gina Marie Rodriguez 15:15

since recording this podcast, the name of Joven's album has been announced. So while I didn't get my scoop at the time, I'm happy to announce that his sophomore album, Son of a Sinner, will drop on September 18th. Stick around through the end of this episode to hear the first single off of that album, Pray for Me, in its entirety. For more information about this album, be sure to visit jovenweb.com. If you like this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends. A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com. The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986. The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez. Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez. And my thanks, of course, to Mr. Webb for speaking with me today. I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast.

Jovin Webb 16:09

Thanks

Full Track Pray For Me

Jovin Webb 16:10

for listening I've been a liar, a backslider. I've been engaged in my desires. Ask in the Lord to forgive me, please.