"This is what barbecue sauce sounds like" —Lionel Richie
"Jovin Webb brings the blues to a new generation" —B.E.T.
"I could sit and drink a lot of bourbon listening to that voice" —Luke Bryan
Five years before he dazzled millions of viewers on American Idol with his bayou mystique, his humility, and his distinctive gravelly vocals, lifelong musician Jovin Webb was on the verge of giving up on his music career dreams. Bringing Louisiana soul to the famed talent show franchise, and cracking the top 10 during the show’s 18th season, proved to be a career reset.
Today, the Baton Rouge-based artist steps forward with his raw and emotive debut album, Drifter, out on the iconic blues label, Blind Pig. 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. Drifter was produced by multi-Grammy winning producer Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Susan Tedeschi, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram).
“At a young age, the longing and pain expressed by Southern Black Baptist church music spoke to me, but as I experienced my own trials and tribulations, I felt the pull of the blues,” Jovin shares. “I soon realized that gospel and blues are related. Someone with the blues is in a low place, and when you seek salvation you’re also usually in a low place.”
Drifter is the sound of a blues life searching for a gospel redemption. “It’s me trying to figure out religion, women, my career, and everything I’ve gone through,” Jovin says. The twelve tracks on Drifter evoke a blues classicism without ever feeling nostalgic or derivative.
The tough and tuneful “Bottom of a Bottle” is a classic Chicago-style blues played with a behind-the-beat leaning Crescent City shuffle. The lyrics are filled with barroom preacher poetics that speak to hardscrabble Louisiana living. Jovin sings: Hold me, taste me, squeeze me/I’ll keep you company/Forget about that woman/I can set you free/Take a shot for my troubles/Take a shot for pain/At the bottom of a bottle/I’ll wash your sins down the drain.
The bluesy Southern rock song, “Save Me,” is social conscious commentary expressed through personal reflection. Here, Jovin sings: She was day and I was night/We’d go out people stared/It hurt us both it wasn’t fair/I may never understand/But I won’t be an angry man. “I saw a lot of racism when I was a kid. There were still cross burnings where I grew up, but my parents always taught me not to judge a person based on their skin,” Jovin says.
The album’s title track is a nod to the Temptation’s “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” and Muddy Waters’s “Rollin’ Stone.” “That’s a song about late nights and one-night-stands—it’s some true lifestyle blues,” Jovin says with a good-natured laugh. The romantic slow-burner, “Drunk on Your Love,” boasts modern scene-setting lyrics, clever turns of phrases, and lyrical but down home lead guitar work. “That’s like the preamble song to ‘Drifter,’” Jovin reveals. “It’s about those moments with someone new when you get butterflies in your stomach.”
The stirring soul ballad,“Mine Someday,” boasts tight Steve Cropper-style rhythm guitars, classic Hammond organ, and crescendoing choruses that ooze romantic obsession. “That song is about new love,” Jovin says. The redemptive “Livin’ Reckless” feels like Sunday morning church after a week of Saturday nights. “That’s where the blues meets gospel,” Jovin affirms.
Jovin first burst into the mainstream in 2020 when he wowed millions on ABC's American Idol, amassing tens of thousands of fans on various social media platforms, and earning rave reviews from the show’s esteemed judges. After hearing Jovin for the first time, four-time Grammy Award-winning pop and R&B superstar Lionel Richie gushed: “This is what barbecue sauce sounds like.” Best-selling country music star Luke Bryan added: “I could sit and drink a lot of bourbon listening to that voice.”
Jovin’s authenticity was front and center throughout his time on American Idol, and his personal story oozed a blues mystique. He was an earnest church-raised musician, struggling to pursue his dreams while raising a young son as a single man. Jovin’s mother was a hardworking single mom who sacrificed a lot to provide for her children. His father was something of a papa-was-a-rolling-stone type figure who inspired the burgeoning blues musician early on by singing him John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” and educating him on the blues tradition.
Back home, Jovin was a prominent fixture on the music scene, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, consistently performing 5-6 shows per week for years. Despite this, he never had the opportunity to properly record his music. To date, his only previously issued recordings are from the recently-released crime thriller film, The Dirty South.
As a kid, Jovin watched American Idol all the time. “I remember thinking that one day l will be a good enough singer to be on the show, and I will shock the world! It was a pipe dream,” Jovin admits. He eventually drifted away from watching the show as he got older, but at the last-minute—right before the age cutoff—he earned his place on American Idol. Jovin’s time on the show drastically changed the course of his life.
These days Jovin is preparing for a busy tour schedule throughout Europe and the U.S., and he’s starting to build the concept for his next record. “I’m living my dream—I’m very blessed,” he says humbly. “This album showed me how to keep going. It taught me to believe in myself.”
