One of the surprising joys of an otherwise bleak 2020 was the resurgence of Leslie Jordan, an already acclaimed actor and comedian who became a household name through candid, often hilarious Instagram videos. Quarantining in his hometown of Chattanooga, Jordan delighted celebrities and everyday folk alike with his clips, which included charming anecdotes, humorous attempts at home fitness and the now-famous catchphrase, “Well, shit, how y’all doin’?”
On Friday, Jordan will delight us once more with the release of his first gospel album, Company’s Comin’. The album, which includes gospel favorites as well as a handful of new, original faith-based songs, features a truly stacked roster of guest musicians, including the likes of Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Brandi Carlile and Eddie Vedder.
Jordan recorded Company’s Comin’ alongside Travis Howard and Danny Myrick, two Music Row veterans with stacked CVs of their own. Howard, a longtime friend of Jordan’s, is a songwriter and producer who’s worked with major artists like Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley and Keith Urban. Myrick cut his teeth in gospel and faith-based music before writing for a broader swath of artists, including Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.
Company’s Comin’ came to fruition after Jordan approached Howard about potentially writing music for a musical “where he would play this traveling evangelist, with big, poofy hair,” as Howard describes it. “I immediately called Danny, because we’ve been friends for a long time, and asked if he wanted to split this with me,” Howard adds. “We got a lot of this great music together for the musical, but nothing’s happened with it yet. When the idea of a record came up, I knew Danny knew that language, and Leslie knows it, so that was the team.”
The trio began crafting a potential track list, pulling together their favorite gospel songs and envisioning dream collaborations. Howard and Myrick also contributed original material, each featuring on a track with Jordan — Myrick on “In All Things” and Howard on “The Longest Day.”
“Leslie saying, ‘You guys each do a song,’ was incredibly generous,” Myrick says. “ ‘In All Things’ was the last gospel song I’d written. It’s been a long time. That one, I think, really hits home. His voice is great on those songs, too. He has a sweet sincerity that’s really awesome.”
In addition to being impressed with Jordan’s generosity, both Howard and Myrick were also taken with the longtime actor’s natural singing ability, especially given his lack of professional musical experience. And indeed, Jordan’s vocal performances add heart and depth to the project, as well as healthy doses of humor — particularly in the skit-like interludes between tracks.
“Once we got him doing this, there was this tone in his voice, and I’m not trying to conjure the idea of Little Jimmy Dickens, but it’s an older man’s Southern voice, that does sound like Little Jimmy Dickens, or someone in the choir from back home,” Howard says. “It’s just so comforting for me.”
Jordan and his collaborators found recruiting artists for the project to be a surprisingly easy task, with most agreeing to participate through direct messaging on Instagram. Some, like Vedder and Tucker, were already acquaintances of Jordan’s, and signed on without hesitation when asked. Others, like Carlile, had become fans of Jordan’s Instagram videos.
“Leslie DM’d Tanya and was like, ‘Um, if I did a record, would you sing with me?’ ” Howard explains. “She was like, ‘Hell yes!’ Emboldened by the ‘hell yes’ from Tanya, we were like, ‘I wonder if Brandi Carlile would be into it.’ So [Jordan] DM’d her on Instagram. And she was so enthusiastic. … After that, it was just an avalanche of DMs.”
If lining up artists felt easy, securing funding for the album — which they admit, with public-domain hymns like “Sweet By and By,” would not be a “cash cow” — was a cakewalk, too. The trio recorded seven ringtones based on some of Jordan’s most popular sayings, like the aforementioned “Well, shit,” and funded the entire Company’s Comin’ project with proceeds from the short clips, which topped iTunes’ ringtone charts.
“Selling a three-second clip of ‘Well, shit, how are y’all doing,’ paid for the entire budget of the record,” Howard says. “None of us had to do anything to get advances. It was like, ‘Bam! There’s our budget.’ … There’s no expectation from some executive, or things we had to change to please a company. For me, it was the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. At some point you just get tired of chasing that top 15 song on the radio, like, ‘I can’t write another truck song.’ ”
Company’s Comin’ is just one of many items on Jordan’s overflowing plate. On April 29, he will release a new book, called How Y’all Doin’. He and Howard host an Apple Music Country show called Hunker Down Radio With Leslie Jordan, which airs every Sunday afternoon. Plus, the first season of Call Me Kat, on which Jordan stars alongside Mayim Bialik, just concluded, with Jordan and Howard making a special musical appearance together on the season finale.
