Product Description
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. 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.
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.