London's Jordan Allen Shines on "The Voice" Stage & Beyond

A dream that began as a teenager has grown into a career for Jordan Allen, as he has gone from writing songs in his bedroom to performing on a national stage on NBC’s “The Voice.”

Jordan, along with his wife Courtney, have been a big part of this community, growing up and raising their own children, five-year-old Audie and three-year-old Avett, in London. Jordan works as a real estate agent with Century 21 Advantage Realty, as well as working for a lawncare company in town when he is not on the road, while Courtney is the owner and CEO of Believe Fitness Studio in London. The Allen family is also involved in their church, Gilbert’s Chapel United Baptist Church.

Jordan says he remembers his father singing in church and playing on his guitar when Jordan was younger, many of the same songs Jordan still enjoys playing today. It was at around six years old when Jordan first began playing an instrument, after Jordan’s parents purchased his brother his first drum set. By 15 years old, Jordan was not only playing the guitar but was also writing his own songs, as well as singing in high school’s choir.

“I really never wanted to sing by myself, I was fine with the choir but I kind of got forced to sing on my own,” he said. “I was writing these songs that nobody wanted to sing, so I started to sing my own songs.”

In his first year of college, Jordan formed his band Jordan Allen and the Bellwethers, he describes their style as “southern rock meets the Appalachian Mountains.”

After years of hard work, Jordan quit his day job in 2018 to pursue music full time.

“I realized I had all my eggs in one basket, and I really didn’t want to do anything else," he said.

Shortly after quitting his job, Jordan and his wife find out that they were expecting their first child. It was then that Jordan had to make the decision to continue reaching for his dreams or to go back to his day job. Because he knew what kind of an example he would be setting for his children, Jordan decided to stick it out and keep fighting for his dream, all while faithfully serving God, navigating being a husband and a father, and continuing to work to help provide for his family. 

Jordan continued writing music and performing with his band, putting out four complete albums over a decade and performing on numerous stages across Kentucky and beyond. This past year, Jordan made the difficult decision to drop the band name and to begin releasing songs under his own name instead, releasing his debut single "I Got It Bad" in February.

When it comes to Jordan competing on "The Voice," he said it was an unexpected blessing.

A couple years back, the casting company with “The Voice” had reached out and encouraged Jordan to send in a few videos of him performing. Though he had never given it much though, he decided there was no harm in trying, but nothing ever came of it.

Then, fast-forward to December of 2023, and that same casting company is reaching out to Neyland Bolden who runs a YouTube channel called Powell River Sessions that highlights local musicians like Jordan. The casting company was asking about some of the artists on Neyland's channel.

“He emailed them back and said, ‘if you are not looking at Jordan Allen, then you are missing a good one’,” Jordan said. “Neyland asked me if it was something I would be interested in, and I said I have been there before, but I’ve not got anything to lose.”

After sending in his audition tapes, Jordan got the call that he soon would be flying out to Los Angeles, California to perform in the blind auditions for “The Voice.”

“I felt like all of it just kind of fell in my lap,” he said. “Courtney and I both handled it with a lot of prayer. The whole time our prayer was ‘God if this is not what you want for us, we don’t want it either.’ And he never shut the door on it. I honestly was expecting to get a call before we left and them saying we don’t need you anymore, but that never happened.”

In preparing for his blind auditions, Jordan said he knew he wanted to sing something that was representative of who he was and the kind of music he loves, and that is why he chose Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.”

“Most of my favorite records are made prior to 1980 and I think song writing-wise and the things that I release as an artist, very on-brand for me would be kind of a retro, throwback song and that song was released in the 70s and he’s singing about even before then,” Jordan said. “I just felt like content of the lyrics just really exemplified me as an artist, and then on top of that too, I feel like sometimes it can be a risk in a blind audition to do a song that is so well known but sometimes it can play in your favor and I felt like that song has not been done a lot.”

Though he felt nerves going into the blind audition, Jordan said that he also felt a lot of peace knowing that he had done everything he could to prepare himself for that moment and that he had controlled all he could.

“I could not control whether those chairs turned and the only one to know what was going to happen was God,” he said. “I think having the crowd there was amazing and I think I had kind of forgot there would be a live audience, so I was like ‘I know how to do this,’ so I just worked the crowd and played to them. When [Michael] Bublé turned his chair, it was such a relief and then I was super surprised when John [Legend] turned his chair.”

Jordan said it was John Legend’s constructive criticism of his performance that made him want to be a part of Team Legend.

“To be away from my wife and kids and to make that sacrifice for them, I wanted to come out of the entire situation better,” he said. “It would have been awesome to have hit a wedding with Michael Bublé, that sounds awesome, and I wish he would still call me and say, ‘do you want to go to a wedding?’ Michael had a great pitch, and he was very enthusiastic about me, but John’s pitch was a little more geared to ‘I’m going to make you better and I’m here to work’ and that’s what I want. I constantly want to work to be better at what I do, and John spoke to that.”

During his blind auditions, Jordan had his mother and wife in attendance, which he said was likely the most special part of the entire experience blind audition for him.

"Courtney has seen me come home emptyhanded and just tired of it, wanting to give up and to get to have her see that happen for me—I wouldn't have it any other way," he said. "And the same for my mom, she has always believed in me. It was indescribable."

Then, being able to come back home and relive his experience when the episode debuted on television with his parents, his wife and his children was another once-in-a-lifetime experience for Jordan.

"It was a gift that 'The Voice' gave me," Jordan said of his blind audition segment on "The Voice," which included a montage of photographs of his children and other family members while Jordan was given a chance to share a little bit of his story with the world. "It was such a special moment for our family. It was really cool. I feel like my kids were really stoic watching it—they didn't really talk, they were just glued."

As someone who has always referred to himself as a “songwriter who just happens to sing,” Jordan hopes that his experience on “The Voice” will not only help him to become an even better musician but will hopefully turn more people to his songs and more importantly to him, to his songwriting.

“I have released 60-plus songs with the Bellwethers, and I am going to release 11 songs this year in total, one a month from February to December, so more than anything I hope that it turns people to the songs. I hope it sheds light on the songs because I know that is what I am the best at and what I am very passionate about and that is telling stories through song. I hope that people can latch onto the songs.”

Jordan said being immersed with other musicians was an exciting experience, allowing him an opportunity to learn from and network with other singers and songwriters from across the country, including writing songs with other contestants on the show, just another example of how this experience has given him more opportunities to grow as a musician.

Since his debut on “The Voice,” Jordan said the community support has been “overwhelming in the best way.”

“I feel like from people that I went to high school with and haven’t talked to in 10 years to people I’ve met in the last two, I feel like everyone has just been incredible, I couldn’t have asked for better support from the community.”

Jordan has an exciting year planned, with a new song coming out every month for the remainder of the year, songs that Jordan hopes will touch people through their storytelling. Jordan also has several live shows lined up in the coming months, giving his local fans plenty of opportunities to get out and see him perform live.

Jordan hopes that his story inspires others to go after their dreams, as well.

“If God has placed a dream on your heart, there is no amount of setback that can keep you from that if it has been planned for you, but he does require hard work and kind of doing it with him, he requires you to meet him halfway. I just hope that people see me and do the thing themselves, whatever that may be.”