Ashley Jordan

"Every year around this time, we take a look back at the things that moved, shaked, shocked and quaked us from the previous year. It's always music related, but there's something a little extra special that catches your eye, tickles your ears and makes you stand up and notice that makes us choose the bands, artists and acts that we do. That’s not to say, of course, that we didn’t like the other music we heard. We did. Our picks just stood out a bit more than the rest.”
#8 ON THE TOP TWENTY LIST: ASHLEY JOELLE JORDAN: "Barely out of her mid-teens, singer-songwriter-guitarist Ashley Joelle Jordan has done more with her life than most folks twice her age. This focused, poised young lady captured our attention with her debut CD, Simple Love, and we proudly featured her on our July 2010 cover. This talented upstart is so determined she's even managed to create her own radio station ... so make sure to check her out." - Metronome Magazine, by Brian Owens, Feb. 2011

Ashley Jordan’s sophomore CD Liquid Words is a well-crafted country-folk-pop amalgamation. It works because Jordan successfully welds the roots of those music genres with the sheer beauty of her voice. Hers is the voice that remains sweet in its raw, unpretentiousness, one that holds up solidly among much gritty, roots-inflected instrumentation.
Jordan opens with her title track “Liquid Words.” It is a banjo flavored country roots number with Jordan’s honey sweet vocal flow giving it all a lot of character. She is simply a young singer with a well-honed ability to make each vocal note count musically and emotively. The youthful earnestness is well-framed in by the banjo and pedal steel notes that are slowly crackling around her.
“Good Girl” also finds Jordan in that mid-tempo range that requires her to carry the whole song on her vocal strength. Jordan’s vocal is the central force in this mesh of fiddle, pedal steel, and acoustic guitar. She navigates her way through all the twists with an easy going assurance. From there, she injects plenty of personality by not trying to be anything other than herself. There is no effort to sound like any other female country singer and the young lady never relies on gimmicky falsetto or inflection. She is pristine.
Jordan coos her way into “Framed” before she turns it into a slow, breathy vocal. There’s just something in the way she lets loose her sweet, girlish voice, a force that is never forced. She just wraps her flowing voice around her chorus and there is winsome charm. She reaches into many vocal ranges and sustains here and she hit’s the emotional mark each time.
Jordan tackles a sweet melody on piano ballad “In A White Room,” reaching another height on this slow build up by making her voice scale a mountainous build up that is this song’s structure. Jordan’s vocal is always working its way upward, starting at a high point in her technique before pushing herself to an even greater feat.
“Get On Home” features Jordan wielding a hefty chorus with a style that makes it seem easy. She belts her three word chorus without ever losing the sweet purity of personality and naturalness of presentation.
Maybe due to her youth, Jordan sounds perfectly natural singing songs appropriately themed to teen and young adults. “Stealing Kisses” is a sweet-themed ditty that Jordan is well cast to sing and “Don’t Mess With A Songwriter” is a whimsy take on girl singers who get the final word and ultimate revenge on the guys who’ve done them wrong. Jordan’s winsome voice perfectly flavors this irked person gets back at the irker theme. “I Love You Anyway” finds herself pining earnestly for her life long small town infatuation.
“Losing All Emotion” shows Jordan to be one of the most naturally suited to country music singers in the local area. Her pitch gets higher, lighter, and shinier and color and tone, perfectly matching the theme without pretense. The fiber in her timbre is as flinty as the well scrubbed guitar, banjo, and pedal steel playing around her, like she was born to sing amidst these acoustic heart-stirring melodies.
“Truth Be Told” finds Jordan mellowing things, her vocal pulling the country tinged electric guitar gently along, her strong vocal personality smoothing out the perky melodies just beneath her voice. “On Your Side” reveals her ability to inject emotion into her lyrics with short, slightly breathy bursts in a style that suggests this could get play on country radio. It’s catchy as heck.
The most heartfelt moment on this CD comes when Jordan singers her tribute to “Phoebe,” a teenager so traumatized by school bullying that she took her own life. The singer wraps her subject in a warm lush vocal and sees her as a vulnerable youth in a dark, hostile world. The personal perspective will certainly bring this one close to home and heart for many.
“It’s That Smile” benefits from Jordan’s girlish charm and her youthful vibrancy and “This Life” gets it gust from her more assertive side. There is a lot of heart in this young lady’s voice and writing. She has found a great collection of musicians to support her on this CD. Producer Don Hooper provided bass, mandolin, keyboard, and acoustic guitar. Troy Engle is on board with his electric guitar, fiddle, banjo, pedal steel, and mandolin. Steve Beckwith plays electric and acoustic guitar. Adam Bergeron plays piano. John Loud drums. Kristen Miller is here with her stirring cello work. Jordan plays guitar and Kim Jennings came by to add harmony with Hooper.
Ashley Jordan’s pure, emotive, rangy vocal with Hooper’s crystal clear production with some of the best instrumentalists and singers backing them couldn’t go wrong. Look for great things to come from Ashley Jordan in the years to come. And look far, because that is where she will go. - Bill Copeland Music News, Oct. 2011

Harvard’s own Ashley Jordan is coming on the scene with her new release scheduled to be in stores October 3, 2011. “Liquid Words” is a 14 track CD displaying Jordan’s unwavering talent.

In the words of Ashley, she is pretty in pink but tough as hell and definitely can hold her own when it comes to playing music. She has a pure, sweet sound without falling into the cutesy trap. Her vocals are precise and articulate. It feels well thought out and planned. Jordan has perfected simplicity with a straight forward no frills sound; a gentle mix of country and folk that seems to have been created for her songs only...

She has these precious vocals, delightful harmonies, great story telling all wrapped in a nice neat package. Ashley Jordan is making a name for herself. I suggest to any aspiring songwriter out there; Listen to this CD and study it. It is full of great content. - Skope Magazine, 2012

“When you think of current country music in Massachusetts names like Jo Dee Messina or Ashley Gearing might come to mind, but here’s one more to add to that list – Ashley Jordan. The 19 year old (yes – I said 19!) just completed her second full length CD entitled “Liquid Words”. 12 of the 14 track on the disc are penned by her and are in essence her diary set to music - simple songs of love and enjoying life to complex compositions of sadness and heartbreak flow together seamlessly. The production should also be noted – listening you forget she’s a teenager from Bean-Town and imagine more of a veteran singer-songwriter backed by Nashville’s best. Get yourself a copy of Liquid Words now and you too can say you knew Ashley when…” - REVIEW BY JOHN SHEA, MUSIC DIRECTOR FOR 95.9 WATD RADIO, 2012

Sweet and sultry, that’s Ashley Jordan’s voice. She’s a country/folk singer from the little residential town of Harvard, MA who strapped a guitar to her back and decided to take a stroll down the proverbial road to stardom. While it is relatively uncommon to have a singer from this state choose country as his or her go-to genre, listening to Ashley’s drawling vocals over warm acoustic strings you would swear she stepped right out of the heart of Dixie, caught a train and ended up somewhere in MA.
All songs tell a story, but not every singer is a good storyteller. Ashley is not only able to catch you in her web of lyrics, but also simultaneously bring her feelings to the forefront and create empathy in the heart of everyone who hears her music. What I find most compelling is that though her song style is indeed folksy, what she is singing about is relatable to everyone ~ townies and metrosexuals alike.
Her music is truthful and convincing and raises the emotional bar. It’s almost as if Jewel decided to cover a Janis Joplin song in her own sweet style, called upon the impassioned spirit of Damien Rice and pulled it off perfectly. It offers the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. Take Ashley’s song “Phoebe,” a heartbreaking tale of 15 year old Phoebe Prince, a bullying victim who took her own life back in 2010, spurring anti-bullying policies in schools across the state. Ashley tells this story to a beautiful melody, incorporates stunning vocal harmony, and brings a tear to the eye.
Liquid Words is consistent the entire way through. Most songs have the same even tempo with a few change- ups and though there isn’t a great variety in instrumentation, going the simple route works in the artist’s favor. The music stands on its own and doesn’t require a Be-dazzler to add embellishment and sparkle. It shines all on its own in its own beautiful way. - PULSE MAGAZINE, by Jennifer Russo, April 2012

*Ashley's song "NEW ENGLAND TEARS" from her "NOTHING IN DOUBT" album was selected by Musician's For A Cause for inclusion in their 2014 Compilation album titled "BOSTON STRONG: DON'T LET THE DARKNESS STEAL THE DAY." Twelve songs were selected through a nation-wide campaign designed to help those impacted by the Boston Marathon bombing. This amazingly powerful compilation of songs is providing 100% of their profit to the One Fund Boston.

About the song "NEW ENGLAND TEARS" by Ashley Jordan:

This song embodies so much... compassion, hope, resilience, fear, faith, patriotism and more. It provides a stark reminder of the impact a tragic event has on families and captures the full range of emotions that we experience. The songwriter, Ashley Jordan, has a brother who is a firefighter and an EMT so events like this hit especially close to home for her. These events don’t just last for a day or a year, for those who are directly impacted it lasts a lifetime. Sharing this song helps keep the memories alive and inspires more compassion. - Dave Bastien, Musicians For A Cause

Ashley Jordan’s third album Nothing In Doubt is a strong follow up to her 2011 debut CD Liquid Words. Jordan’s new work has some sharper sounds with edgier electric guitars and more aggressive drumming. She’s still squarely in the singer-songwriter category. Yet, this time around she’s got more to say about people who’ve done her wrong. I hope for the safety of the boys she’s writing about that Jordan doesn’t have a background in karate or boxing for she will surely beat them to a pulp.

“Drink Some Whiskey” finds her calling her former boyfriend more of a boy than a man. She belts this one out like an angry revenge country rocker, a little bit lady like and a little bit tough. An electric guitar files part of the grievance for her, registering her angst with a bristling chord progression. Jordan outdoes Taylor Swift when she boasts about smashing the tires on the guy’s brand new truck. The natural beauty of her voice finds an assertive timbre here, and it works, especially when she slows down the pace to unfurl a further dressing down of the ex-boyfriend jerk in question.

“Feeling Unsure” swaggers forth with a pushy guitar chord progression. Jordan belts it out rocker style as she sings about her uncertainty about a beau. Her young woman’s frustration with this man comes across in grand style as she give her voice a workout on the ever so hooky chorus. Though she wasn’t such an assertive country rocker last time around, Jordan takes like a natural to this new form of expression.

“Trouble” finds the young lady singing in a breathy chanteuse style, gliding over her edgy backing band. Not only does the contrast highlight both her skills and her band’s, it accentuates the theme of trouble following her around. It’s amazing how Jordan holds her own against her bracing, edgy band without having to belt louder or longer here.

“It Is What It Is” begins peacefully, Jordan revealing the softer side of her voice and the more sensitive side of her new songwriting prowess. Her voice is like a sweet whisper against the bleak chorus, sweetening the sound while providing a hooky chorus for a listener to sing along to. The swath of acoustic guitar, mandolin, and banjo beneath her voice provide a natural sound setting for the singer to emote over, allowing Jordan to sound both at home and accompanied at the same time.

“Smoke On This Gun” is the moodiest song on Jordan’s new disc. It waltzes by with a lonesome melodic cry from a western flavored fiddle. Jordan uses this perfect backdrop to launch into a mighty chorus about her willingness to shoot down her adversaries. She is one tough honky tonk mama, vocally asserting herself above a forceful country music backbeat which pushes this confrontation theme forward.

Jordan takes it easy, gentle, but wider and warmer on “Weight Of The World.” Her mellow vocal sustains give this song lift and beauty at once. Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s Joe Young provides the male co-vocalist lines. His gritty, realistic weariness makes a perfect contrast to Jordan’s less gritty country girl assertions. Together, their winsome harmony turns the chorus into a ruggedly handsome piece of work.

“New England Tears” impacts the listener’s emotions as Jordan’s softer, prettier timbre expresses the pain of recent violent incidents in our home territory. Her insight into the human devastation, weariness, and desperate longing for those lost shows her advanced perceptions as she connects with her timbre, one full of love, warmth, and caring. It’s a quality that a singer either has or hasn’t got, and Jordan has got plenty of it.

“Girl Loves Boy” begins with Jordan pressing emotional honesty out of her lyrics, a gentle sensitivity infusing her timbre. She compares her emotional loss to a dark night, and her follow up coos make it all too real. Suddenly, Jordan and her band amp up the honky tonk grit with a lean, mean backbeat and an electric guitar that grinds out an attitude. Jordan swings into a steady belt over that shuffling force beneath her. She’s like an experienced cowgirl riding the mechanical bull longer than any of her male counterparts. She means business here and bad boys had best stay out of her way.
“The Shortest Distance” is gritty country balladry. Jordan reaches great emotional truths by looking squarely at the math of a relationship. She makes you feel her sense of losing ground as she sing about frustration with a flair for longing after something that’s gone. Her whispery timbre layers this whole number with a silky beauty that only the best singers are born with.

“Dreamer” is a mid-tempo work that builds in emotional and musical strength. Jordan impresses by unleashing more of her earthy belt as she goes along. She’s in complete control of the wellspring of energy beneath her. Her aggressive build up grabs the band by its bootstraps and pulls them up too into grittier, edgier, rocking territory, sharp electric guitar laced with saltier acoustic banjo, mandolin, and heftier drum smacks.

Jordan’s more luscious whispery timbre returns on “If I Had You,” a song of longing and loneliness that makes her heart feel like it’s standing alone in a barren field. She brings this feeling forth with her steady presence at the microphone. She injects all sorts of strengths, coos, a bit of a belt in the chorus, and the prettiest sustains this side of the Mississippi. There is nothing like an artist who can make you feel something while you enjoy her lovely whispery voice and tender song craft.

Jordan closes out with “Fading Away,” a gentle appeal to pay more heed to someone who is in a bad way. Impressive how this singer delights the ear with myriad little touches while remaining true to her solid emotional and musical underpinnings. You can feel Jordan’s compassion as she caresses her lyrics with everything from the gentlest of coos to the more assertive calls for support. She makes you realize that there isn’t much to be done for the woman fading away, but Jordan’s compassion for her envelops this closing piece with a balancing warmth.

Jordan offers a solid third CD. Nothing In Doubt shows her more independent of older, wiser producers this go round. Taylor Barefoot co-produced this one with Adam Jensen and the two let Jordan stamp her personal identify more profoundly on these songs than on her last album. Jordan gets a boost in the studio from some other good helpers, Alex Knutsen, Kim Jennings, Leeann McMorrow, and Bill Russell. The gritty acoustic country instrumentation is a nice touch and rocking things up a bit works well here for a singer who has things to get off her chest. Jordan is only 21 years old, so she might find trajectory in the industry this year.

www.ashleyjordanmusic.com - Bill Copeland Music News, January 2014

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Ashley Jordan returns lyrically wiser and more musically savvy on her well crafted new album NOTHING IN DOUBT. It's been two years since her last release, but those two years have allowed Jordan to grow significantly in the songwriting arena. And that's a staggering accomplishment considering that she's still only 21 years old.

With an unbridled fire that drives her both personally and musically (can you really distinguish between the two?), Jordan has found fitting ground in the contemporary country-rock scene that has allowed her to spread her wings and soar. Her voice is strikingly powerful as she sings songs that emanate from a special place close to her heart.

Enlisting the talents of Adam Jensen and Taylor Barefoot who co-produced the project as well as playing a multitude of instruments, Ashley also included the talents of Alex Knutsen on guitar, mandolin and banjo, Kim Jennings on vocals and piano, Leeann McMorrow on violin, Bill Russell on cello, Joe Young on vocals...

Track of note include the catchy, well played album opener "Drink Some Whiskey," the reflective "Trouble," the country tinged ear jerker "Weight of the World," and the introspective "Dreamer." Once again, the talented Ashley Jordan delivers a satisfying collection of songs that will resonate with listeners both young and old. - Brian M. Owens, Metronome Magazine, Boston, March 2014

"This is a great album. Although released independently, this collection of songs stands up to Nashville’s best. Several songs would be right at home on the radio next to today’s biggest country stars.

Packed with well written songs, good production and a voice that is equal parts powerful, sensitive and authentic, Nothing In Doubt wears well. After a dozen listens, the songs only get better. Like a broken in baseball glove or favorite pair of shoes, they settle in. Nuances manifest. Lyrical and musical intricacies come into focus. The songs ring true. They speak of love and life, in realistic terms, sometimes dark, yet always hopeful.

It takes a special artist to share these kinds of songs, rich with real life stories and imagery, and Ashley delivers. Ashley’s instincts are spot on, innately knowing exactly where to go vocally and perfectly expressing what the song wants to convey. At just 21, she sings stories that are beyond her years. Convincingly. Although it's hard to pick favorites on an album this good, mine include: If I Had You, Weight of the World, Trouble, It Is What It Is, Drink Some Whiskey and the very touching New England Tears.

There’s no reason this talented and promising new artist shouldn’t be a household name. I hope for her, and music fans alike, that this album becomes as big as it should be." - BY MATTHEW REID, MIX 104. 1, WBMX BOSTON, 15 year Major Market, APD/Music Director, Award Winning, top rated On Air Personality: Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco