Greatest Story

"It’s tempting, as an artist trying to make a name for himself, to lean into what is working in the industry - to chase the trends I hear on the radio and try to change my sound and my style to better ‘fit in’ to the Nashville game."

(Matt Jordan / facebook.com, February 15, 2024)

It's been almost 10 years since Matt Jordan started releasing self-written music. Driven by his passion for the art of songwriting, he soon realized that this alone was not enough for quick commercial success. This setback, but also a new phase in his private life, led to an artistic break and a new orientation.

"When I look at my heroes, and the artists who inspired me to really start writing - Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Don Henley and more recently, Eric Church, Kip Moore, NEEDTOBREATHE, it seems to me that they all have staying power because they stayed true to what THEY do and how they do it, rather than trying to sound like anyone else", he recently wrote on Facebook.

Today, Matt Jordan incomprehensibly still is without a record deal. But the songwriter with the distinctive voice, who describes himself on  Instagram as a heartland rock / country artist, doesn't let that get him down. Since his first album "The Gamble" with 11 songs was released in autumn of 2022 (and a few months later as a deluxe version with 3 additional songs), he has been working tirelessly on lyrics and new music.

This put him on track for an unmistakable style, that sounds authentic and believable. Now the independent release of his second studio album entitled "Low Lights" is just around the corner (February 23, 2024). It's a project with 11 new songs, 7 of which have already been released in advance at regular intervals over the last few months.

An album about which Matt Jordan says: "With this album, I feel like I was able to capture a sound I’ve been chasing since I started writing songs. It is a collection of songs I’ve written over the last two years, some you’ve heard, some are brand new."

The most recent advance release happened on January 19, 2024 and is entitled 'Greatest Story'. It's a song written by Matt Jordan and his favorite writing partner Jarrett Hartness and may be the undisputed highlight of the upcoming project. Not least because it is the artist's first duet, although, as is so often the case, the song was not written with that in mind.

With Kayley Bishop we not only get to hear a barely unknown artist, but also one whose potential has been described by medium.com in August of 2023: "Kayley Bishop blends Bob Seger’s rock and roll, Dolly Parton’s bluegrass storytelling and Aretha Franklin’s soulful serenade into a one-of-a-kind country music cocktail."

The focus, however, is undoubtedly the song 'Greatest Story' with its catchy melody and a rather melancholic story, which is right down the lane of songwriter Matt Jordan. entertainment-focus.com quotes him as saying: "The idea behind 'Greatest Story' is a love song about a love that never actually happened. It’s about a friendship that never had a chance to blossom into a romantic relationship and the haunting wonderment of what might have been if it had."

Barefoot on the sidewalk,
friend of a friend on a friday night.
Cigarettes over small talk,
you had a pack but you were stealing mine,
and drowning in my jacket,
staring hazel colored holes through me.

For a minute there we had it,
all the makings of a paperback scene,
the stars, the hearts,
you had the keys, I had the car.

Hey Baby you can call it what ya wann call it,
head first shoulda wrote the end first,
should of read in reverse,
had a million copies sold.
I guess I was just a hand to hold,
in the greatest story never told.

(Greatest Story / Matt Jordan, Jarrett Hartness)