We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordan Blanchard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I sort of took two major risks early on in my career. The first was deciding the career path. I already was broke coming out of college, so I decided to become a musician? Lol.

I built a name for myself by playing 225 shows in my first year (2021). They were 4 hours each, and I was singing 100% covers. To be honest, I learned to hate it, and I often wondered if I had what it took to keep going. In October of that same year, I started going to Nashville once a month to write songs. Once I had some that I liked, we took them to the studio, where we tracked what would become my first project as an artist.

Risk number two was when I decided that I was no longer “Jordan Blanchard, the guy who sings covers in bars.” Now I still do this to an extent, but my focus is my artistry and connecting with fans. My shows are now almost 50% original songs. The risk here was that my current venues would no longer want to hire me. Original music doesn’t necessarily have a great name in my home state of Wisconsin, but the stock is definitely going up. My shows were not only accepted, but improved on a major scale. I focused on creating moments, capturing and engaging, and changing lives rather than just singing songs. Since the switch, I’ve played significantly less dive bar shows and have progressed to events such as Hodag Country Festival, Porterfield Country Fest, rodeos, county fairs, downtown concert series, tractor pulls, and much more. And my fanbase has grown exponentially. I am finally starting to reach my target audience!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always connected to music on the deepest of levels. It’s gotten me through deaths, heartbreak, athletics, and many other struggles, big and small. Music has done so much for me and I realized that I have the ability to be that connection for many other people.

The main two services we provide are live shows and streamable music. That’s where most of our time, energy, and money is spent. The thing that sets us apart from anyone else is our approach. Like I said earlier, we don’t just sing songs, we create moments, we have an extremely captivating and engaging show, and we give people the opportunity to have their lives changed. We want to have our listeners eyes and ears glued to the stage at all times. In order to do this we have to keep things interesting and cannot be predictable. Part of our philosophy allows for us to do everything ONE TIME. Anything from positioning on stage, type of interaction, props used, etc. For example, we light our fiddle player’s bow on fire one time. I put a life jacket on and walk on my hands or do a backflip one time. We give away merch one time. We use a cooler for a song one time. We all sit in a half circle at the front of the stage one time. I wear a poncho one time. The bass player does a solo to start the song one time. You get the picture. Everything happens one time, meaning the audience simply cannot look away or they will miss something.

I’m most proud of the team we’ve built. At our larger shows we’ll have 3 sales people, my marketing director, a video team, a photo team, the production team, stagehands, and the band itself. The best part is that I get to be friends with all of these people and chase a common goal/dream.

I want people to know that I’m just an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dream. God has lead me down this path for a reason, and I do everything in my power to make sure it continues to grow and have a positive impact on everyone it touches, whether it’s through my socials or at a live event.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

This is a great question! There are many different ways to support artists. There are the obvious things like going to shows, purchasing merchandise, or donating to their causes.

Then there are the FREE and not so obvious ways to support. This includes things such as following them on social media, liking, commenting on, and sharing their posts, streaming their new single, adding their songs you like to your favorite playlists, telling them that you enjoyed their show/song, and telling your friends to check them out.

I think the most important thing for a community to do though, is to create a positive and accepting environment for all creatives. Give everyone a chance. Be open to their perspectives, ideas, songs, whatever it may be. If you don’t like them, you don’t have to see them or support them again.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It’s the fans. It’s always the fans. It always will be the fans. I’ve already touched so many lives on my journey as a new artist. I’ve had a few chances to reach people on major stages and it is such a rewarding experience. Meeting everyone at the merch tent for photos, autographs, and to hear their stories is so cool. What other chance do we have to be able to do that aside from being an artist?

I’ve had people tell me that I was their wedding song, or they play my songs for their baby before they put them to bed, or I got them through mile 12 of their half marathon, or I got them through a breakup, or they played my song on a first date that went well. These are just a few examples of the impact I’ve been able to have on people. It makes everything worth it. I will always chase that.   

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jordanblanchardmusic.com
• Other: https://linktr.ee/jordanblanchardofficial This is my link tree. It has all of my relevant platforms attached to it

Image Credits
Linda Walker Dave Jackson Brett Loveland