Fronting the West Coast buzz band A Current Affair gave Jordan’s powerful vocals some major exposure right out of high school. The band performed on the Warped Tour and other high profile gigs before dissolving. But heavy metal was never Jordan’s passion; it was just a fun experience with his friends and a way to stretch musically. As a child, Jordan had grown up with R&B artists like Sam Cooke and Earth Wind & Fire providing the soundtrack to frequent family road trips. Artists from what his father called “the good music era.” Those were the sounds and stylings that stuck in Jordan’s musical memory and by the time he was old enough to realize that his own singing voice was a gift, it was those early groove-funk-soul singers that had shaped his personal aesthetic. If he was going to make records, those were the kind of influences he wanted to draw from. Which brings us back to that Nashville record deal he signed with Centricity Music.

Jordan Feliz’s first full-length project, The River, reinterprets the rich influence of 70’s sensibilities in a modern pop context. Intentionally constructing uncluttered tracks free of production tricks and excessive instrumentation, Jordan instead focused on arrangements that were designed to give his fine-grit-sandpapery-smooth vocals center stage. The eleven songs on The River are soul-influenced pop numbers, but the instruments present are precise and articulate in their voicings and melodies, saying only as much as they need to and no more.

Tag-team produced by Colby Wedgeworth (Lincoln Brewster, The Main, Lydia) and Josh Silverberg (Newsboys, Jon Foreman, Plumb), The River is packed with radio-friendly pop melodies that manage to hit those marks without compromising Jordan’s unique musical personality. The best example of his singular vision is the record’s powerhouse title track and first single, The River, which has already spent ten weeks on the radio charts at #1. While it sounds like a pulse-quickening mega-hit from the first listen—instantly singable and repeatedly listenable—The River actually rides on a deep current of soul-driven funk influence that serves to set it apart from other contemporary radio fare.

“I’m a big melody guy,” Jordan admits, “and musically The River is my own personal happy place. It’s a great driving groove that just feels good to sing. The song itself is an invitation to anyone who hears it—whether they’re stuck in pride and legalism or wallowing down in the mess they’ve made of their lives—it’s an invitation to take whatever we have and to run to Jesus. It’s an invitation to go down in amazing grace and to rise up being made new.”

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