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.
