Joseph Velvet revives Evermore with family-inspired reggae remake

Joseph Velvet is leaning on reinvention to give Evermore a second life, and the move fits a career shaped by stubbornness, family backing and a refusal to stay down. The song was reworked from a track on Perseverance into a full reggae production, then released on June 21 through Jones Production with worldwide distribution by CD Baby. Joseph Jr. was the one who pushed the idea, believing a reggae cut would pull more plays, streams, downloads and attention.

That instinct takes Velvet back to the sound that first put Joseph Jordan Jones on the map. Raised in Cockburn Pen in Kingston, Jamaica, and a graduate of Penwood High, he migrated to the United States in 1985 and cut his first single in 1987, a cover of Wild Flour, later also known as Wildflower, distributed by VP Records. The record created a buzz on the local reggae scene and opened doors to dates with Dennis Brown, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs, Beres Hammond and Shaggy.

Velvet’s momentum stalled in 2003 when a major motor vehicle crash left him with serious spinal injuries. The accident sidelined his music career, sent him into years of rehabilitation and, by his own account, brought bouts of depression that tested his resolve. He began performing again in 2008 after Joseph Jr. kept urging him back into the fold, and that return produced the singles Arms Around Me and Love Face.

The comeback kept building. In 2012, Velvet signed a digital distribution deal with Star Tune Records of Nashville, Tennessee, and in 2021 he finally issued his debut album, Perseverance. The 10-track set leaned heavily toward Lover’s Rock, and its lead single, Do What I Got to Do, was inspired by his wife, extending the same personal thread that has run through his work for years.

Evermore now lands as part of that same story, not as a throwaway remake but as a deliberate reset. Dean Fraser on saxophone, Boris France on keyboards, Paul Wrong Move Crosdale on keys and Danny Basie on bass helped give the track polish and emotional weight, while Velvet’s family-driven push gave it a clear reason to exist. For an artist who has already survived the scene once, the new Evermore feels like another test of the same old lesson: good reggae, backed by persistence, can still find its audience.