Latest / Jersey Arts Podcast / Jovin Webb Debuts New Single in Advance of Sophomore Album

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Jovin Webb Debuts New Single in Advance of Sophomore Album · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 0:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: On today's episode, I'm speaking with the talented blues artist Jovin Webb.
• 0:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Perhaps you've seen him on American Idol.
• 0:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Maybe you've been following him since the early days.
• 0:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Or perhaps this is your first introduction to his soulful music.
• 0:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But no matter the journey, he's an artist to follow moving forward.
• 0:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: His raw and emotive debut album, Drifter, out on the iconic blues label Blind Pig, released in 2024.
• 0:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 0:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Now please note that at the time of recording this episode, Joven was scheduled for an appearance at the Lizzie Rose Music Room.
• 0:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Unfortunately, that performance was cancelled.
• 0:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So we ask that you please disregard the brief mentions of this show.
• 0:53
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: We hope that you'll stick around to meet Mr.
• 0:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Jovin Webb.
• 0:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: We'll be talking about his music, the desire to visit New Jersey, and sharing a little love for his home of Louisiana.
• 1:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I want to say thank you so much for being with me today.
• 1:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm really excited to talk to you.
• 1:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I've been listening to your music on a loop now and pretending that I too can sing.
• 1:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Uh, spoiler, I can't.
• 1:15
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 1:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Let's just start by asking, how are you doing?
• 1:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How's it going?
• 1:27
  Jovin Webb: Oh, good, good, good, good.
• 1:29
  Jovin Webb: It's uh start of a busy weekend for music.
• 1:31
  Jovin Webb: I'm feeling pretty good.
• 1:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, do you have uh a show coming up tomorrow, I want to say?
• 1:36
  Jovin Webb: Uh today.
• 1:37
  Jovin Webb: I have uh two today, two tomorrow, and one Sunday.
• 1:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh, just kidding, you're super busy.
• 1:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's amazing.
• 1:44
  Jovin Webb: Yeah.
• 1:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I want to talk to you about why music.
• 1:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Like how did you discover your love for music?
• 1:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What was that journey like for you?
• 1:54
  Jovin Webb: Uh it was it it wasn't a choice, it was innate.
• 1:58
  Jovin Webb: Like coming out the womb, just you know, hearing my parents with music and dancing and beating on popping pants with drums.
• 2:04
  Jovin Webb: Uh I'm a drummer at heart.
• 2:06
  Jovin Webb: So it was from from the start, as far as I can remember, music was involved.
• 2:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think that's fantastic.
• 2:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love hearing when people say that it's innate, that they didn't really have a choice, they were born into that life.
• 2:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 2:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I wanted to ask you what that before and after was like for you.
• 2:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What was life before American Idol and what has it become since?
• 2:39
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 2:52
  Jovin Webb: So it was it was it was it was fresh, nobody really knew where I was.
• 2:56
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 3:03
  Jovin Webb: And then I was uh just getting into one of my first real bands.
• 3:07
  Jovin Webb: So it was it was like the start of everything.
• 3:09
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 3:16
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 3:24
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 3:34
  Jovin Webb: Hope you make it, and then you get on stuff like American Idol and everybody dude, you on TV?
• 3:40
  Jovin Webb: You know, like it's people people people that's what treats you different.
• 3:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I can imagine when millions of people are watching you and rooting for you.
• 3:49
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's I I mean, I have never been on a competition show, uh, but I'm curious what what is that experience like?
• 3:57
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What kind of pressure are you feeling knowing that this isn't just about performance, it's about competition.
• 4:04
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 4:09
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 4:18
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 4:27
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 4:34
  Jovin Webb: So that that woke me up as far as that aspect.
• 4:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But safe to say it was worth it.
• 4:40
  Jovin Webb: Oh yes, oh yes, of course, of course.
• 4:42
  Jovin Webb: It was a little like a boot camp type thing.
• 4:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Boot camp is a really good way to explain that.
• 4:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 4:58
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, I know that I like what I hear.
• 5:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So that's that's my skill set, being able to tell you what I like.
• 5:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But your voice to me feels made for the blues, and I guess I'm asking, how did you decide blues?
• 5:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Right?
• 5:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Like there there's so many different genres.
• 5:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How did you find your way to that genre?
• 5:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Or is that what you feel that you were born into?
• 5:25
  Jovin Webb: Well, I um I am a blues singer, but I'm so much more than that.
• 5:31
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 5:38
  Jovin Webb: So I I in my shows, I repeat that is because that's who I am.
• 5:42
  Jovin Webb: I'm I'm not just some blue some blues singer, I'm I'm all the things.
• 5:45
  Jovin Webb: Like you're gonna you're gonna get a dabble of everything that made me who I am.
• 5:48
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 6:03
  Jovin Webb: So that's that's all I I grew up listening to, so I I couldn't run from it.
• 6:07
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 6:14
  Jovin Webb: Blues has uh has influenced every genre from from uh country to rock and roll to jazz.
• 6:21
  Jovin Webb: So my earliest introduction to that was gospel soul music.
• 6:25
  Jovin Webb: It has all the elements of everything we listen to.
• 6:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, you're starting to touch on my next question, so I I do want to move to that.
• 6:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Your album, Drifter, you've said is the sound of a blues life searching for gospel redemption.
• 6:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Can you expound upon that?
• 6:43
  Jovin Webb: It's the blues.
• 6:43
  Jovin Webb: Uh the blues is about love, loss, mistakes, um, triumphs, trial, tribulations.
• 6:49
  Jovin Webb: And uh it's not a it's not a it's not an easy life.
• 6:54
  Jovin Webb: You can't speak about the blues and not know about it.
• 6:57
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 7:18
  Jovin Webb: So so it's like basically um realizing that yes, you are teetering the line.
• 7:25
  Jovin Webb: And and and just like I said, how how blues kinda like you know jumps over to different things.
• 7:31
  Jovin Webb: As blues musicians, we we we know where a lot of that soul comes from, so it comes from church.
• 7:36
  Jovin Webb: And a lot of times people like to think, oh times you go sing blues, I'm gonna sing this.
• 7:40
  Jovin Webb: I can't, I can't be spiritual, I can't be godly, I can't be this, I can't be that.
• 7:45
  Jovin Webb: And I I think the exact opposite.
• 7:47
  Jovin Webb: I think uh, you know, we were made to push the line.
• 7:50
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 8:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love that.
• 8:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Made to push the line.
• 8:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's I love that.
• 8:04
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 8:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Anyway, I appreciate that explanation because it helped me give me a visual for that.
• 8:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I 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.
• 8:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I we we lost count.
• 8:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But what does that song mean to you?
• 8:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I think we might have a sample of it.
• 8:57
  Jovin Webb: Don't know where I've been, but the ball tender knows me as soon as I walk in.
• 9:07
  Jovin Webb: Again, I wrote that song out of pure experience, and and and maybe just from where I'm raised from.
• 9:15
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 9:27
  Jovin Webb: And that's that's very thick around here.
• 9:28
  Jovin Webb: And if you're in southern Louisiana, you're gonna feel it.
• 9:31
  Jovin Webb: But along with the with the having fun comes a lot of drinking.
• 9:35
  Jovin Webb: So I mean, if we're gonna be honest, it's the blues and it's about you know those type of things.
• 9:40
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 9:46
  Jovin Webb: We we we drink a lot.
• 9:47
  Jovin Webb: We we any any occasion we get, we we we toast it.
• 9:51
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 10:08
  Jovin Webb: So that's what that was about.
• 10:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I when I was listening to it, I understood the the literal implications of of drinking in the bottom of a bottle, of course.
• 10:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 10:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's that's how I was interpreting it.
• 10:35
  Jovin Webb: Oh yeah, it's it's it's it's it's all about just in just indulgence.
• 10:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, I love that song, and that's why I've been listening to it a bunch.
• 10:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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?
• 10:54
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's your home, that's your love.
• 10:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How do you get people to visit and appreciate it the same way?
• 10:59
  Jovin Webb: If you want some of the best music and some of the best food in your life, come Louisiana.
• 11:03
  Jovin Webb: You're gonna see us rich in culture, rich in the people, and rich in everything here.
• 11:09
  Jovin Webb: We got our ups and our downs.
• 11:11
  Jovin Webb: And uh, and if you just want to feel a camaraderie, uh a place that you can be yourself, is come on Louisiana.
• 11:18
  Jovin Webb: Plus, everybody wants a crawfish.
• 11:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm sold.
• 11:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: As soon as you said food, I was I'm there.
• 11:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Food is.
• 11:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: We should just make this podcast entirely about crawfish next.
• 11:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But we don't have time for that.
• 11:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So unfortunately, I'm gonna instead go back to asking you about about music.
• 11:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And 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.
• 11:54
  Jovin Webb: Uh my my advice is um, I mean, from experience, don't.
• 11:59
  Jovin Webb: You you gotta believe in yourself bigger than uh before anybody else believe in you.
• 12:04
  Jovin Webb: You gotta you gotta sell it to yourself.
• 12:05
  Jovin Webb: You gotta you you gotta practice, you gotta you gotta master your craft.
• 12:09
  Jovin Webb: Uh study the greats to become great.
• 12:11
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 12:27
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 12:33
  Jovin Webb: That's the only way you it can work.
• 12:35
  Jovin Webb: People gotta hear you, people gotta see your face, you gotta know who you are.
• 12:38
  Jovin Webb: Do it.
• 12:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's important.
• 12:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think a lot of artists get tripped up on the idea of branding, right?
• 12:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And that's what social media essentially is, it's branding yourself.
• 12:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But it is it's important because like you said, how else are we gonna know you?
• 12:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, you put yourself out there.
• 12:54
  Jovin Webb: Find your find your find your find your lane, your uh targeted demographically that way.
• 12:58
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 13:09
  Jovin Webb: But it's you gotta find those people, and once you find those loyal people, they they're gonna stick by you.
• 13:15
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love that.
• 13:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I know we were just talking about how amazing Louisiana is, but I have to pivot and say how amazing Jersey is now.
• 13:22
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Have you been to Jersey before?
• 13:24
  Jovin Webb: I think uh airport in passing.
• 13:27
  Jovin Webb: That's that's about it.
• 13:28
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So this is gonna be an experience for you when you come to the Lizzie Rose music room.
• 13:31
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It's a small venue, but it's a really it's a sweet venue.
• 13:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I think you're gonna be excited by it.
• 13:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I hope, I mean, I don't know that you will, but I hope you'll have time to explore a little more.
• 13:41
  Jovin Webb: Hopefully.
• 13:41
  Jovin Webb: Uh just depends.
• 13:42
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 13:48
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Fingers crossed, because Jersey does have a lot to offer.
• 13:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But is there anything you'd like to say to our New Jersey audiences uh in advance of your show?
• 13:57
  Jovin Webb: Like I said in in the beginning where I started, just be ready for some blues, some souls, some rock and roll and gospel.
• 14:03
  Jovin Webb: We're gonna give it to you authentically in our own way, and and here come Louisiana boys.
• 14:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love it.
• 14:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm excited.
• 14:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I can't wait.
• 14:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I've like I said, I've been listening to your album over and over now, so I'm excited.
• 14:15
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Will you be playing um songs from Drifter and more, or what is your focus for this show?
• 14:21
  Jovin Webb: From this this show, you you you're gonna get um songs from Drifter that that came out on 2024.
• 14:28
  Jovin Webb: But you'll also be getting a sneak peek of a few songs for my new album.
• 14:31
  Jovin Webb: Um, I don't know if I should or can be saying the name of it right now.
• 14:35
  Jovin Webb: Okay, just uh um there is a new album coming out.
• 14:41
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 14:45
  Jovin Webb: So I'm just trying to be as discreet as possible without making the label pissed off.
• 14:49
  Jovin Webb: But uh you you're gonna get some songs from the you have some songs from the new album as well.
• 14:53
  Jovin Webb: 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.
• 14:59
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love it.
• 15:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm so excited.
• 15:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I almost got a scoop there, but that's okay.
• 15:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't want to piss off your label.
• 15:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So we're happy that there's a new album coming.
• 15:06
  Jovin Webb: September 18th.
• 15:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh, September 18th.
• 15:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's awesome.
• 15:09
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Looking forward to it.
• 15:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thank you so much for taking the time.
• 15:12
  Jovin Webb: Thank you, thank you.
• 15:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, since recording this podcast, the name of Joven's album has been announced.
• 15:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: 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.
• 15:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Stick around through the end of this episode to hear the first single off of that album, Pray for Me, in its entirety.
• 15:32
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For more information about this album, be sure to visit jovenweb.com.
• 15:36
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you like this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 15:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com.
• 15:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The Jersey Arts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 15:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 15:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez.
• 16:00
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez.
• 16:03
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And my thanks, of course, to Mr.
• 16:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Webb for speaking with me today.
• 16:06
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 16:09
  Jovin Webb: Thanks for listening I've been a liar, a backslider.
• 16:35
  Jovin Webb: I've been engaged in my desires.
• 16:41
  Jovin Webb: Ask in the Lord to forgive me, please.