Acoustic evening with Jordan Thomas & Jim Rush
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At first glance, it may appear that Jordan Thomas doesn’t fit the picture of a traditional bluesman. Clean-cut and even-tempered, Thomas certainly doesn’t seem to have the blues. That is, until you see and hear him play. From the first snap of his guitar strings, Thomas’s blue soul comes alive, reaching out and grabbing every audience with the sincerity and authenticity of a blues all his own.
Jordan’s blue soul was cultivated early, with a childhood immersed in music due to his mother’s singing in a southern gospel quartet. He began teaching himself guitar at age ten, spurred by a desire to play like Chuck Berry. Knowing that Berry had been heavily influenced by blues artists like Muddy Waters, Jordan began frequenting the local library’s blues section. Album by album, Jordan began soaking up the sounds of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and of course Robert Johnson. Entirely self-taught, his driving finger-style acoustic guitar playing is every bit as powerful as that of the blues masters from whose records he learned. Likewise, his slide playing is virtuosic and passionate, full of raw energy yet precise and clear.
Having also become an avid poet and songwriter, Jordan takes particular interest in applying poetic techniques to traditional blues forms. Thomas’s passion for vivid imagery and subtle wordplay is evident in his lyricism, which melds perfectly with his soulful, emotion-soaked singing style. Thomas considers himself part of the “new generation” of blues harp players, playing fully chromatically on a standard diatonic harmonica through advanced bending and overblow techniques. It’s clear from his playing, however, that he applies these relatively modern techniques with the pure feeling and energy central to traditional blues.
In 2007, Jordan formed the electric four piece blues band The Mojo Roots, with whom he continues to perform regularly. Meanwhile, his career as a solo artist is burgeoning rapidly, playing stripped-down acoustic blues in venues across Missouri. He continues to write prolifically and is currently recording his first full-length album as a solo artist.