Backstage Pass with... Jordan Lawhead
Jordan Lawhead Takes it One Day at a Time
By: Nicole Roberge
Jordan
Lawhead had his first real rock star moment at a very young age—he picked up his
JC Penny electric guitar and went to have lessons from a little old lady at the
senior center. On that day he learned how to play “Down in the Valley.” That
was his only lesson at the senior center, but it gave him the ambition to take
off on his own and learn guitar, using more creative methods instead of standard
lessons. At the age of eleven, he wrote a Christmas song for a girl, and after
that, his quest to be a songwriter expanded. He played guitar in the Church
band, and though he was too nervous to plug in, it did give him the experience
of playing with a band. After high school, he moved to Hollywood to study and
pursue a career in music.
“I wasn’t really coming out here to be a star,” he said. “I kind of wanted to learn a little bit more about music and songwriting. Of course that is always in the back of your mind, wanting to be the best, but for me it was to learn about what I wanted to do first.” But the switch to the Hollywood music scene was a bit overwhelming at first. “It’s hard to know where to start and who I should meet out here. A teacher of mine once said, ‘It’s not just about what you know, but who knows you.’ Just trying to network with people is overwhelming because there’s so many different people and so much out there,” Lawhead said. However, he has also found that these pressures can be a driving force behind his music. “Just being out here and around the industry a little bit, I’m becoming more business-minded than just playing in the woods, and I completely embrace that.”
Lawhead currently plays shows in the Los Angeles area, usually solo but occasionally with a drummer, though he’d like to try to put together a band soon. But as a singer-songwriter, he does not see the all-important need of having a band to back you up, yet instead relies on the raw nature of his music to show his credibility as a songwriter. “I write my songs so they kind of stand on their own and don’t hide behind the production. I think that there’s a value in that. It would be really cool to play with a great band, but for me it’s more valuable that the songs stand on their own,” he said.
A serious songwriter, Lawhead prefers to focus
on the craft and getting his music heard, rather than just putting out any kind
of music that will sell. “I try to be just creating new music all the time and
experimenting with different stuff on the guitar, and then hopefully lyrics will
come, but sometimes they just kind of have to hit you,” he said of the process.
He notes songwriters like Ray Lamontagne, John Mayer and Damien Rice as artists
whose career path he finds ideal. They, he says, are artists whose music has
something to say.
Lawhead has a strong outlook on his career and what he is striving for, but it was a scary situation that got him to that place. At the age of 17, he was diagnosed with melanoma, and it was just a year ago that he says he had the miracle of his life. Just when he was to have another surgery and chemotherapy, every test came back clear. This second chance, he says, taught him to strive for things because life is only so short. “It really taught me to take life one day at a time. That’s kind of how I approach music too. I could make so many plans and strive to do so much, but if I forget to take it one day at a time, I lose sight of where I’m going,” he said.
For that belief in taking it one day at a time, Lawhead claims that he doesn’t know where he will be in the next year musically, just that he hopes that he’s reaching people. He is currently working with a couple of producers, and writing with fellow musician and entertainer-extraordinaire Bushwalla. Though a goal would of course be to eventually sign a record deal, it is more important to him to build up his music and network and to have an established fan base before any sort of deal would come about.
Jordan Lawhead may be young, but with an organic approach to songwriting and integrity in his music, it is clear that he is an artist who will go a long way. And when he hits it big, they’ll be lined up at the Senior Center waiting for their encore.
For those in the Los Angeles area, you can catch Jordan Lawhead at the Key Club on September 20. For everyone else, be sure to tune in to Ryan Cabrera’s MTV show “Score,” beginning in November, where Jordan will be a contestant!
For more information on Jordan Lawhead and to purchase his CD, visit www.jordanlawhead.com
To hear some of his music, visit. www.myspace.com/jordanlawhead