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| Ashley Jordan performs at last September's Lions Club Fall Festival. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz) |
Singer-songwriter Ashley Jordan has been making waves in the music world recently. The Harvard teen released her debut album,
Simple Love, on Feb. 12 and is working to launch her career in music.
Jordan’s interest in music stems from her early childhood. When she was 5 she asked her father to build her a stage on which she could sing. In sixth grade, she performed at a Bromfield School talent show, where, she says, “I think I really surprised everyone because I felt so comfortable on stage. I really realized how much I enjoyed performing for an audience.”
Jordan began to take singing lessons and would sing with an accompanying guitarist. However, she soon got tired of depending on a guitar player and decided to learn the instrument herself.
In 2009, she participated in the “Teen Idol at the Mount” competition in Central Massachusetts and took second place. Says Jordan, “I enjoyed every moment. The experience and the comments from the judges and staff gave me the confidence to believe in myself and keep pursuing bigger things.”
Since then, she has recorded her album, on which she sings and plays guitar on 10 original tracks and two covers. “I just wanted my first CD to represent who I was as a musician … so it’s truly a representation of me,” Jordan says. She also notes that she has been influenced by musicians like James Taylor, Ellis Paul, Taylor Swift, Ingrid Michaelson, and her friend and mentor, singer-songwriter John Gerard; her musical style is one of “acoustic folk pop” or “country pop.”
Jordan enjoys writing music because it is “therapeutic… [Writing music] serves as a release for me and I talk about all the things that are going on in my life—good and bad.”
“Performing the music is great because I like seeing my audience make connections to the songs and hearing their views of my songs and how they relate to them,” she adds. The whole process is made permanent, though, by the recording aspect. “Later on I know I’ll be moving on to other music that expresses who I am and what I feel strongly about. The recorded CD will always represent a certain period of my life.”
Jordan credits her success to the support she has received from those around her. “My parents have been there for me one hundred percent. I am especially lucky to have such great friends and family who have been by my side throughout everything.”
Recently, one of Jordan’s songs was chosen to be featured in an independent motion picture produced by In Play Films. Also, according to her website, she was selected as one of Regent Broadcasting’s runners-up in its “Elite Artists Series,” which will earn her airplay across nine states. Worcester’s Pulse Magazine is going to feature Jordan in its July 2010 issue and NRG Theory has selected her as Artist of the Week for the week of April 22, 2010. Says Jordan, “I’d like to pursue more opportunities like that, for sure!”
“I’d also love to tour,” she adds, “and I’m looking into doing college performance tours. I want to try it all and meet different people and just keep moving forward.”
While she is primarily focused on promoting Simple Love, Jordan plans to continue songwriting and making music as a career. “I might not know exactly my direction, but I do know that I’ll keep actively seeking opportunities… I’ll just have to figure it out as I go,” she says.