musical influences ?
[ Jordan ] My earliest influences were what my Mom and Dad call the “ good music ” era ( laughs ), so like Earth Wind and Fire , Marvin Gaye , Sam Cooke , Al Green , that Motown popsoul vibe .
[ WM ] As I said , you grew up in Clovis which is adjacent to Fresno , CA , and an interesting place to grow up in . After all , most people have not seen how raisins are produced . You ’ re in an agricultural area , yet in close proximity to Sequoia , Kings Canyon , and Yosemite National Parks . What was that like to have so much access to so much splendor ?
[ Jordan ] Honestly , there are two things that I miss more than anything being a California boy now living in middle Tennessee . I miss fresh produce because we don ’ t have it here , even though people try to convince you that we do .
It ’ s not even close . I also miss being able to do day trips . When you live in central California you could choose to go to the beach right now , or you could do the same thing to the snow , or to a big city if you want . I really miss those two things , and it ’ s funny that you ( Alex ) kind of know all about that . My entire family is actually in agriculture , so that was kind of the thing to do , you either buy some acreage from a family member and start farming it , or you start working for another uncle who owns a packing facility . You go get your degree in how to farm the product and sell the product . You go to Cal Poly for commercial sales . There were so many things that were not typical that I did there . It ’ s a sweet thing to remember and look back on , remembering all the agriculture , remembering all of the day trips . It was awesome .
[ WM ] I would love to talk about the new record . Say It , with a big 13-song offering , was recently released in late 2020 . Tell us about the overall project and then I ’ ll ask you about some of the specific tracks .
[ Jordan ] Say It , has probably been the record that I ’ ve been the most excited to release in my entire life , I ’ ve just poured so much into it . It was one of those records that I had a lot of fear in writing too . The small and short of it is I ’ ve spent the last two years writing this record , and the meaning behind Say It is really just me trying to figure out what I was supposed to say . I started writing this record , and every song that I ’ d start writing I would immediately get filled with fear , and not because of anything other than every time we would get in a room and start writing a song it would be something really personal about my story , and about my struggles and my past . About things that have happened in my life that maybe I ’ m not necessarily expecting to talk about . So , the craziest thing was that every time I would get really nervous and really fearful , I would feel the Lord asking me to pray .