Category: Spirituals

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: EL Drez Shares Hook-Driven and Uplifting “Hosanna”

Marphus L. Drez Stewart, is a Buchanan, Liberia-born and-based Afro pop/R&B singer/songwriter, best known as EL Drez. Stewart can trace his passion for music and his music career to his upbringing: As a teenager, he was the choir director for his church. Since then, the emerging Liberian artist caught the attention of Relumae Liberia, who signed him and has released a handful of singles to date.

His latest single, the KrisBeatz-proudced “Hosanna” is a sleek, hook-riven blend of gospel, Afrobeats, pop, dancehall and hip-hop anchored in a deeply heartfelt message of faith, belief and resilience that’s a much-needed bit of uplift for anyone out there having a difficult time in a mad, mad, mad world.

Directed by longtime friend Parashoot, the accompanying video follows the Liberian artist through a day in his life, attempting to achieve his dream through a steadfast belief in his talent and faith in God.

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singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 87th Birthday, Mavis Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Mavis Staples’ 87th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 123rd Birthday, Son House!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 123rd anniversary of the birth of Son House.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 111th Birthday Pops Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 111th anniversary of the birth of Pops Staples.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Mavis Staples Performs “Human Mind” on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

The beloved national treasure Mavis Staples‘ latest solo album, the Brad Cook-produced Sad And Beautiful World is slated for a November 7, 2025 release through Anti- Records. The album reportedly sees the 86 year-old legend standing side-by-side with us in the face of dangers she knows all too well — and comes at a time when increasing number of people out there have reason to wonder who and what could be lost.

The new album spans seven decades of the American songbook — a range nearly as vast as Staples’ remarkably lengthy career — and includes reinventions of timeless songs, as well as a batch of originals.

Recently, the legend performed the Hozier and Allison Russell co-written album single “Human Mind” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “Human Mind” was the first track recorded for the Sad And Beautiful World sessions and the single sees the legend acknowledging the complexities, contradictions, violence and heartbreak of our world, while still finding hope and goodness in people — and in turn, the world over a slow-burning, Staple Singers-inspired arrangement.

The song seems to say, “Yes, life will break your heart many times over; but there are small yet mighty measure of love, kindness and faith that hold it all together, barely. And that is what we should cling to when it’s especially dark.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 88th Birthday, Yvonne Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 88th anniversary of the birth of Yvonne Staples.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 86th Birthday, Mavis Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the legendary and incomparable Mavis Staples’ 86th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 122nd Birthday, Son House!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 122nd anniversary of Son House’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 109th Birthday, Pops Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 109th anniversary of Roebuck “Pops” Staples’ birth.

women who kick ass by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Mavis Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the legendary and incomparable Mavis Staples’ 84th birthday!

1990s by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 108th Birthday, Pops Staples!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 108th anniversary of Roebuck “Pops” Staples birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Black History Month: Mavis Staples

The month is flying by: Today is February 11, the 11th day of Black History Month. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past month, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles that I think can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience. Of course, I hope that throughout this month you’ll remember — and appreciate the following:

Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.

JOVM mainstay Mavis Staples is a legend and an international treasure. We should love her and cherish her while she’s still here with us. She’s your soul grandma; she’s there for you when you need her most.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday Mavis Staples!

Throughout the course of this site’s almost ten year history, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering the legendary Chicago-born singer, actress, and civil rights activist Mavis Staples. Going into a deep dive into her career as a member of the Staple Singers and and a solo artist will be a bit gratuitous — but throughout her career, she has received commercial and critical success, as well as a proverbial boatload of accolades. Stapes has received eight Grammy Awards nominations with the Staple Singers, winning one — a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2004. She also received a Grammy nod for a collaboration with longtime friend Bob Dylan. And as a solo artist, she’s been nominated for five Grammys, winning two — Best Americana Album for 2010’s You Are Not Alone and a Best American Roots Performance for  2015’s ”See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.”

She also has been nominated for 11 Blues Music Awards, winning nine, including Album of the Year for 2004’s Have A Little Faith, which featured Song of the Year and album title track “Have A Little Faith.” She’s also won three Soul Blues Female Artist Awards — one in 2004 and back to back wins in 2017 and 2018. Staples was also inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Staple Singers in 1999, was a Kennedy CenterHonoree in 2016 and inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.

Today is the legendary vocalist’s 81st birthday and I personally wanted to wish the national treasure a very Happy Birthday. May there be at least another 80 more!