Matt Jordan has done it all: worked in business, spent time in Nashville chasing his dream in Music City and is now back home in St. Louis raising a family and making a career in music playing around the country. Two of the most important things I look for at all levels of music is consistency and being authentic with one's music. Matt has done both of these things exceptionally well. Every release, Matt's songs have something to say. Whether it's a deep track that many can relate to, or a party song you throw on the speaker before going to the bar.... you can feel his heart and soul in each song. Matt is on track to be one of UPstar. Music's Artists to Watch Class of 2024. He is an incredible talent who has a lot left in the tank. I sat down with Matt Jordan and talked about his unique writing approach, the reason it's important to chase your dreams and why previously having a career in business has helped him excel in music as an artist.
Get To Know Matt
"I grew up in a town called Eureka, Missouri, about 40 minutes west of St. Louis. I grew up on my dad's music; he was a big music guy, writing songs back in college. So I was listening to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne, The Eagles and all the groups he listened to. At the same time, my mom was playing Shania Twain, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn and all that 90's Country. My parents' music was my first exposure to music. My dad is the reason I appreciated songwriting. He would put on a song and say "hey, listen to this line" or "watch how he said this" or "listen to that phrase". Early on I was focused on the songwriting side of music and when I started playing guitar those were the songs I was learning. When I got into high school, I wanted to do something with music so I started writing songs. They were terrible, but you have to start somewhere.
I went to Indianapolis to start college and began writing a lot more. It turns out Indianapolis has a cool music scene, but as a college student who couldn't get into bars, I didn't know about it. I felt like "hey, if I want to do anything in music I have to move to Nashville". So that's what I did. Transferred to Belmont for college and lived in Nashville for a few years. I wrote a lot, played writer's rounds, got married and decided to move home. Both our families are here in St. Louis and we wanted to be closer to them.
That's where I'm at now. I still get to Nashville once a month for about 4-5 days at a time, depending on show schedule and that kind of thing. Based out of St. Louis, but still have my foot in the Nashville door."
Aren't We All A Little Reckless?
Call it what you want... being a free spirit, reckless, a firecracker. At some point in our lives we have all been hard to handle - whether it's in a relationship, at work, with friends. At the end of the day you can outrun everyone, burn bridges, keep to yourself, but when looking in the mirror you are always going to be looking back at the reflection. Matt Jordan takes these feelings of being hard to handle and driving people away and converts them into passionate and relatable lyrics such as "I can burn a bridge as fast as I can strike a match" and "slam the hammer to the gas and gone I'll be". Matt takes his "Heartland Rock'' sound and pumps out another JAM that's fast paced, catchy and feels like you are speeding away in a stolen car.
Inspiration Behind "Anyone But Me"
Written By: Matt Jordan & Jarrett Hartness, Produced By: Sal Oliveri
"I wrote this one with Jarrett Hartness; he and I write a ton of stuff together. He has written 8 of the 11 songs on my upcoming album. He wrote 6 or 7 on my last album. He's my guy. We have other guys we write with quite a bit, but Jarrett and I found something that really works. What I appreciate about Jarrett is I get in these manic modes when I'm writing. For me, it's not like "hey let's write tomorrow at 2 o'clock and sit there for 4 hours" like you typically do in Nashville. I will hit him up at 10pm and be like "hey, this just came to me. You want to hop on Zoom?" We hop on Zoom and write until 2am. Most of our writing is spur of the moment kind of stuff as things hit us. And this was one of those songs. I wrote the lyrics for the chorus late one night... but it's this real singer-songwriter acoustic deal. Jarrett loved the lyrics and we took a stab at it. We started writing the lyrics for the verses around it. It was going in a more angsty, reckless direction lyrically. And sonically the acoustic thing I was doing wasn't working anymore. I picked up my electric and started writing the guitar parts and built it out to be a rocker. It's not a new concept for me to write one of these restless songs. I'm a super restless person looking for the next adventure and the next thing I'm going to do. I don't think it's inherently a bad thing, but when it's pointed at the wrong people or things it can be hard in relationships. That's the idea of the song. I run too hard sometimes and probably burn bridges that don't need burning."
Q & A With Matt Jordan
Q: Over the years, how has your perspective of music changed from when you first picked up a guitar until now?
A: "My perspective and feelings of music have changed significantly since starting out. Everything has changed. I submitted a song to the American Songwriter Lyric Contest when I was in Indianapolis and it won the contest. I won a guitar and got an article in an American Songwriter magazine. After that, in my head I was like "I got this and I'm going to move to Nashville and everyone is going to be waiting for me". Obviously now, I know that's not how it works. It takes so much more work and time than I ever anticipated to get to where I am. When I started, there was some vanity in it. I wanted to be on stage, wanted people to hear me. Today I would do this if nobody was listening to me. I really enjoy it and I'm very grateful I get to make music as an adult. That gratitude for being able to pursue a career in music comes from the amount of work I have to put in. When I moved to Nashville I never knew what this career entailed. I spend 30 hours a week trying to book shows... just booking shows is a full time job. So when we get a great show, it feels like we earned it. I don't take any of the experience for granted anymore, because I'm doing something not a lot of people get to do. If it ended today, I could hang my hat and say we got to do some cool stuff."
Q: What's been one of your biggest failures/lessons in your music career and how has it shaped you as an artist and a songwriter?
A: "When I first started releasing music I thought it was as simple as you put your music out, people will find it, people will love it and record labels will come knocking. I was so green when I first started putting music out that I had no idea what went into it. I released two songs in 2016 then took a break because I was working in business and music was a side thing. I then released a song in 2019 and it got like 100 streams and I realized I didn't know what I was doing. I took time to become a student of the industry. I was reading every blog and article about getting in front of people and I bought social media marketing books and books on how to book shows and just started reading. I made the assumption that I will always do this on my own. I will never have a record deal, I will never have management, this is all going to be on me. If those things come, great, but if not I need to figure out how to do it on my own. That's what the last 3 years have been - learning and figuring out how to approach music as a business. That was a big lesson for me. There is so much more to being an artist in this business than just writing, recording and putting out music."
Q: What did you want to be when you grew up? And when did you transition to wanting a career in music?
A: "When I was younger, like a little kid before anything was realistic, I wanted to be in the NBA. My dad ran a small business in St. Louis and I grew up around that. At a pretty young age I wanted to be an entrepreneur and start my own business. It's what I saw, it's what I knew and I thought it was cool. I wanted to be like my dad.
When I got into college and started writing more music, I realized I loved this. My dad was a big part of me moving to Nashville. He was so encouraging and supportive and told me at the time, "if you don't do it now, I don't think you're ever going to do it. You might as well take a shot while you're young.” Many parents wouldn't be that supportive. I transferred to Belmont and studied business, but still was able to be in Nashville which was the goal. I worked in business for 8 years while I was doing music on the side. I went full time with music about 2 years ago.
The business and music morphed. The business side of this is so big and I have business experience. I've worked in sales. I handle my own accounting. I hop on the phone and book shows. I send emails all day. A lot of those skills I learned in business. There has been a transfer of knowledge from the business world to working in music."
Q: Why do you do music? And what do you want your fans and listeners to get out of your music?
A: "There's no universal theme that runs through all of my songs where it's like "this is what I want you to know". But I'll have people reach out and send me a DM saying "your song "Break Down" got me through a tough time and that's my story". I can write my story in a song and it can mean something totally different to another person. I love when people share that stuff. If one of my songs can help a person get through something, that's the coolest thing to me. I also have songs like "Always a Girl" that's just a fun, Friday night song. There's nothing earth shattering about it, it's supposed to be a good time song. What I want people to take away from my journey, is if there is something you want in life, go for it. I hope my journey can encourage someone who is thinking of chasing a dream. I have kids, I'm a dad. I want my kids to see what I'm doing and for them to understand that you can do unconventional things and make a living. You can chase your dreams and follow your passion and you don't have to have a desk job. For some people, that's what they want to do or have to do and that's great, there's no knock on that. But if my daughter wants to be a musician, there is a route to do that. It's never too late to try something."
If you are just discovering Matt Jordan follow him on Apple Music, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and Twitter