Jordan Rager

Jordan Rager blends the polish of contemporary country with the viewpoint of a young adult in his songwriting and performances, establishing himself as a vocalist and composer rooted in Loganville, Georgia. His father, who served as a pastor for a nearby congregation, balanced two primary enthusiasms—baseball and country music—and Jordan mirrored those interests by competing on the diamond through middle school and high school while absorbing the catalogs of Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Kenny Rogers, and John Michael Montgomery; he also gravitated toward classic rock, especially the catalogs of AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd. At age 15 he began learning guitar without formal instruction and negotiated an arrangement with his father that excused daily household tasks provided he maintained consistent practice on the instrument. His initial public appearance consisted of a short set of covers at a county fair, after which he expanded to regular appearances in neighborhood taverns, always accompanied by his mother because he had not yet reached the legal age to enter as a customer. National attention arrived in 2012 when he competed on the television program The Voice; his reading of “Chicken Fried” earned praise from judge Blake Shelton, yet he was eliminated by Naia Kete during the Battle Round on March 29. He pressed forward by issuing the independent album Burning Gasoline in autumn 2012 along with the singles “The Last Song” and “Small Town Skyscrapers,” while increasing his road work as an opening act for Justin Moore, Gretchen Wilson, Love & Theft, and David Allen Coe. After securing management representation from Barry Williams and Peter Hartung—the former being the father of Jason Aldean—Rager obtained a recording agreement with Broken Bow Records and delivered his debut single for the imprint, “Feels Like One of Them,” in December 2015.