I had the privilege of speaking with Mississippi’s own Gospel recording group Joe Robinson & Faithful. Joey Robinson shares insight into how the group came about, what their most memorable performances were, their new single “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, and what we can expect from the group in the near future.

Here is what he had to share with Southern Laced…

Q: Tell us where you got the name Joe Robinson & Faithful? (JR&F)

JR: It started with my dad, Joe Robinson, who is the originator of the group. We came up with ‘Faithful’ because we wanted to cross over the message to everybody. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a singer, doctor or lawyer. Whatever your calling is on your life, you need to be “faithful” to that.

Q: How many instrumentalist and singers make up JR&F?

JR: We have two guitar players, a bass player, keyboard player, drummer and four vocalists.

Q: How long have you all been singing?

JR: We’ve been singing and around music basically our whole lives. My dad and his brothers had a group called The Robinson Brothers. We used to play for them. After they stopped singing, we started a group with my dad to keep the legacy going.

Joe Robinson and Faithful is very family orientated with brothers and cousins.

Q: Who writes, records, and produces your music?

JR: We write, record and produce our own material. We have our own recording studio, which is a blessing in itself.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration for your music?

JR: We were inspired by my dad’s quartet group. Our style and arrangements kind of stemmed from them. By us being a young group, we tried to intertwine both the traditional quartet and contemporary gospel.

Q: What’s the name of the current single?

JR: The name of our current single is “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”. It’s a simple song that’s just saying, “If I die and my soul is lost, I can’t blame nobody. It’s my fault if I don’t make it in.” You have to have a personal relationship with Him. That’s what was instilled in us at a young age. You’ve got to know Him for yourself. You can’t go off of your mom’s or dad’s relationship with Christ. You’ve got to have your own relationship with Him.

Q: When will you start working on a full album project?

JR: We’re in the studio right now working on a full project, which will include about twelve songs. It’s a mixture of traditional and contemporary gospel. So please keep your eyes and ears open for that. We’re very excited about what God’s doing for the group. The message that God has given us, we want to present it to the world. We’re just trying to follow His will.

Q: What do you see in the future for JR&F?

JR: You can’t go wrong when you’re following God’s plan. We’re looking for some great and exciting things to happen with the group.

Q: What advice would you give up and coming artist?

JR: It’s not easy. Especially being an independent artist because you have to do some things on your own. You have to go through a lot of red tape. If you’re passionate about it,  you will have to keep striving and pushing. And when you’re really passionate about something, you’re going to do whatever it takes to get there.

If you have a calling on your life, just line up with the will of God. Also, be able to identify and acknowledge your gift. Once you do that, everything will fall in line.

From the business standpoint, make sure you have your personnel in place. You can get the performance down, but you have to be able to open your mind to the business side of things. That’s where a lot of the work comes into place.

Q: Are there any upcoming performances you would like to share with our readers?

JR: In February, we will be at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. In March, we will be going back to the Stellar Awards PreShow. We’ve got some more things coming up. Your readers can check us out on Facebook and Instagram at Joe Robinson & Faithful to keep up with upcoming events. They can also contact our manager, Tiffany Lindsey, at 601.398.6980 or email us at jrandfaithful@gmail.com.

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR OTHER INTERVIEWS WITH DEE-1, CHERYL FORTUNE, AND  JEKAYLN CARR!