Jordan Allen takes talent to national stage with ‘The Voice’

A local favorite musician has made it to the national scene, gaining notoriety on the popular singing contest “The Voice.” Now in its 27th season, The Voice premiered in 2011 on NBC and is the American version of a similar contest, “The Voice of Holland.”

London native Jordan Allen is competing on the current season of The Voice. Allen shot to local fame as part of the group “Jordan Allen and the Bellwethers.” Allen and The Bellwethers recorded their final single in December 2024. The band was formed in 2013.

When Allen debuted with his on-screen blind audition for The Voice, he received not one, but two chair turns. A “chair turn” is a gesture by the musical celebrity coaches. In Allen’s case, he received a turn from both John Legend and Michael Bublé as he belted out “Old Time Rock & Roll.” Ultimately, Allen went with John Legend because of his constructive criticism, according to an interview with WYMT. 

The 31-year-old Allen has been married for eight years and is the father of two, a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. Allen says he has been writing songs and playing music for over half his life.

Allen said the inspiration for his love of music comes from his dad. “Just growing up, you know, my dad played guitar, and I feel he always had a guitar out,” he said, adding that seeing his dad play in church and in bands helped to inspire him.

While he had early favorites in his career, such as The Beatles, Allen says he has grown more toward the Southern Rock genre. “My favorite genres (include) rock ‘n roll, the blues and country, all mashed up into one, and I think a lot of the stuff I write would be considered, you know, Southern Rock,” he said.

Allen works with a mix of song covers and his own material, gearing live shows more toward covers that people know, but noted has only ever released one cover song that he didn’t have anything to do with the writing. That release was “Honky Tonk Nights,” written by Jerry Marcum, also a London, Kentucky native. 

With music as his passion, Allen said he knew early on that he wanted do it for the rest of his life. “Probably around the age of 18 or 19… you know I played soccer in high school,” Allen said, “I had friends go off to like soccer in college or or, you know, I played a little football too, and I saw friends going off and, you know, pursuing their athletic dreams or friends going off and wanting to be engineers and I just knew I didn’t want to do anything other than play music for the rest of my life.”

When discussing his writing process, Allen says his songs usually begin with an idea or a riff that he builds off of. “I just feel like the best songs, the songs I’m most proud of… they feel like they’ve already been written and I was just standing in the right place when it fell out of the sky,” he said. “I think that music is is especially the gift of songwriting is such a God-given gift and yeah, it’s kind of… it’s a weird thing to explain, but that’s really how it feels, is that they’re just already written and you just get to be the channel.”

Allen says his favorite part of being a musician is the time spent in the studio. “There’s nothing like being in the studio and creating something,” he said. “Taking something that you maybe only have had a voice memo of, you know, a little work tape or just you, an acoustic and seeing it through to the other side.”

The life of a musician can be challenging, especially when it comes to finding a balance with a home life. In talking about his dad, Allen said that while his dad often traveled for two or three nights at a time away from home as a coal mine equipment salesman, when he was home, he was present. “You know, he he didn’t take his work home with him. And so I had a really great example and I just make a really concentrated effort,” he said. “When I’m on the road, I’m on the road and I communicate with my family… but when I’m home I just try to forget all that and be (present).” 

“Of course I’m human, and I failed quite a bit,” he said, adding “but my wife and I are both very focused on being the best that we can be for our kids, and I really guess if there’s a way I can say that I do it is you know, it’s through my faith because, you know, Christianity, the whole thing is, it’s not about you, it’s about serving others for the glory of God and my biggest mission field is my kids. And so that’s just kind of the mentality we have at home.”

When not making music, Allen said of the causes he supports, he thinks Christian Appalachian Project is great. Citing how the organization steps in and helps in times of crisis, such as the recent flooding in the region. “Having known several people in that, I just know they make a (difference),” he said. “The money that I may give or the time you may spend volunteering for, I know that it’s not in vain because… I feel like that’s the what you know, that’s the job of the church that they’re doing is stepping in and helping people.”

As for making it to be on-stage for The Voice, Allen said a casting company reached out to a friend of his  who runs the YouTube channel Powell River Sessions. Allen has been a guest on the channel before. “I think they were actually reaching out about some other artists that have been on that page, but he told them ‘Well listen, if you’re not looking at Jordan Allen you’re missing a good one.’” After the casting company was sent some of his sessions, they liked what they heard. His friend texted and asked, “Would you be interested in being on The Voice?”

“I was like, yeah, if they want me I’ll be there,” Allen said.

After much back-and-forth and a lot of waiting, Allen got the call on his birthday. “Hey, you’ve made it through to the next step,” they said. When asking what else they needed from him, they told him, “You’re going to L.A.!”

While Allen enjoyed his experience to be on the stage and to get not just one, but two chair turns, his favorite moment so far was getting to watch the episode air on television. Fearing being critical of himself would rob the joy of being on the show, Allen kept the watch party small… just his wife, children and his parents. “Cause I know, they’re all proud of me,” he said. He added his favorite part wasn’t even the performance. It was seeing all the work put into the B-roll footage that introduced Allen to the world. “Kids, my grandma, my maternal grandmother and grandfather both passed now they had a picture of them on there, and that was incredible.”

His dad, who hadn’t heard the performance prior, looked at his son and said, “You killed that!” 

“It was a cool, full-circle moment,” he said. “So that’s been my favorite thing is to get to see it with my, you know, some of the people I love the most and just watch that unfold was incredible, and that’s a gift they gave me. The Voice gave me that… (I) could never repay.”

Allen said he plans to release a new single each month, and he can be found on all major music platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Look for Jordan Allen when searching for his music. He posts about new releases and other information on his social media platforms. For those, search Jordan Allen or Jordan Allen Music.

Follow Allen’s journey on The Voice at 8 p.m. Mondays on NBC.