February is here and just around the corner is the day that singles hate and couples go all out to make sure that they’re going to get some. That’s right, Valentine’s Day. That hallmark holiday made to get people to spend more money in the holiday dead months. As a man who has spent every Valentine’s Day alone and brooding in both his teen and adult life, I felt it would be a fitting time and fun idea to recognize some artists who have spent their time writing self-effacing, bitter, tongue-in-cheek music about the lack of love. This week we honor the artist still breaking out of his shell in the music world, but got schooling from one of the best in the business. Singer-songwriter Jordan Zevon is our first Artist of the Week for February.
Son of legendary musician Warren Zevon, Jordan has a huge pair of shoes to fill, which one would think has worked against him during his musical career. While being descendant of a lyrical master, Jordan himself picked up the talent and has taken his writing in his own direction. Like many youngsters interested in music, Jordan got his start in high school playing in a cover band, and like those same youngsters who dedicate their time to the practice; Jordan Zevon was able to do something with it. He began playing with his band The iMPOSTERS (not of Costello fame), writing music and helping to sell out shows in the LA area.
Before Jordan’s solo career took flight he had the opportunity to work with such talents as Notorious B.I.G., Sarah McLachlan, and Outkast during a stint at Arista Records. He later tried his hand at creating Trademark Entertainment with Jordan Summers (of The iMPOSTERS), co-writing film scripts, doing web design, and working for an amp company. It wasn’t until the news of his father’s illness that Jordan seemed to settle down, and after both his parents’ deaths that he dedicated himself to his music. He helped produce Warren’s final album as well as aided in the posthumous tributes to his late father.
Though Jordan Zevon has only released one album, Insides Out, he demonstrates his knack for songwriting and his ability to poke fun of himself (which you would hope for when the opening song is entitled “The Joke’s On Me”). In the album you see the peppering of his father’s influence with his version of Warren’s Studebaker coming in as one of the songs, but a good amount of the album showcases Jordan’s own road down the path of professional musician. His grasp over the power-pop song is often reminiscent of the Candy Butchers and pre-“Stacy’s Mom” Fountains of Wayne with its quick-witted writing and self-deprecating humor, making him easily likable to anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously (everyone likes sarcastic songs about being down and out when it’s put in an up-tempo, right?).
While Jordan’s father may have been a big influence on him, it is both unfair and a sad circumstance that people will often compare him to the late Warren when, at least in this blogger’s opinion, he has done an excellent job of making the point that he has his own originality that is sorely missed in commercial music today. While Insides Out may be the only full-length album, new music is still trickling in from our artist of the week, with his sophomore album Imperfect in the works we can only hope that more will be arriving from Mr. Zevon in the near future.
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I loved this post. Despite being a Zevon fan, I somehow missed that he had musical offspring! Thanks for the article.
You did a review of our album last year, a song of which I actually wrote for/about Warren Zevon:
http://theactiveset.bandcamp.com/track/famous-for-dying