Ms. Jody

For the last 20 years, Joanne Vertie Delapaz, known to her fans as Ms. Jody, has been one of southern soul’s most consistently entertaining and enduring artists. Over the course of nearly 20 albums, Ms. Jody has told true-life stories of cheating, love, heartache, and joy. She’s also responsible for popular line dances like “The Bop” and “Ms. Jody’s Thang.” Her appeal is felt deep and wide throughout the South, captivating audiences with her stunning stage presence.

Southern soul came about in the mid-1960s when immortals such as Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin added heavy doses of deep-gospel vocals to country-tinged rhythm and blues records. Many of these singers recorded for labels like Stax and at studios like Muscle Shoals. While this gritty sound largely disappeared from R&B radio in the ’70s, it lived on thanks to blues singers like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Johnnie Taylor, and Z.Z. Hill, who continued to be popular with southern Black audiences thanks to their work with Jackson-based Malaco Records. Today a new generation of southern soul stars like King George and Pokey Bear have incorporated modern musical technology into their sound while using social media to become major live attractions well outside of the South. 803 Fresh’s current line dance smash “Boots on the Ground” is one of the most successful southern soul songs in decades.

Ms. Jody was born in Chicago but moved at a young age to Bay Springs, Mississippi, located in the rural region between Jackson and Meridian, an area not often associated with blues music. Growing up, she would often sing in her father’s Bay Springs church and at home for fun, but music was never a career plan for the longtime nursing professional. That changed after her brother took her to a concert featuring southern soul queen Denise LaSalle. “It had never been a dream of mine, but on the way home I told my brother ‘I can get up there on stage and do that,’” she recalls, crediting her sister for coming up with her stage moniker—an answer to Marvin Sease’s signature song “I’m Mr. Jody.” There is a long tradition of southern soul songs that warn listeners that they might lose their romantic partner to a trickster named Jody. The character also made its way from blues songs about “Joe the Grinder” to U.S. military marching cadences. “Jody is a naughty person who takes up the slack that the other man or woman is not taking care of,” explains Ms. Jody.

Shortly after entering the music business, Ms. Jody began a fruitful relationship with Memphis-based Ecko Records. In 2006 Ecko released her breakthrough “Your Dog’s About to Kill My Cat,” which introduced listeners to her warm vocals and penchant for witty double-entendres. It’s a formula that continued to be successful on her 2024 album, Cougar on the Prowl. Southern soul artists often record with and perform live to backing tracks, but Ms. Jody tours with her own band whenever possible. “There’s nothing like having the power of that band behind you,” she says. “I like to mess with my fans, and if my band is playing, I can get off the stage and mix with the audience and then go back into another song.” While her nightclub show carries on the ribald tradition of LaSalle and Millie Jackson, Ms. Jody has tailored a version of her set appropriate for festival audiences of all ages. For Ms. Jody, her appeal is simple: “The blues is about life experiences,” she explains. “And there are some true Jodys out there!”