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 in 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 “That’s 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 thing to come from Ashley Jordan in the years to come. And look far, because that is where she will go.
