MATT JORDAN - Run Tonight - Independent Release

With each dynamic layer that Matt Jordan has uncovered since his album The Gamble released in varying editions earlier this year, his incredible song output has continuously walked his comfort line to the far stretches of modern country while instigating an unbridled tilt of his 80’s rock influences, often landing him with a Heartland Country tag.

But what he’s done so skillfully with each song release, one right after the other, is to gently pull more and more toward those rock influences in a masterful foreshadowing of things still to come; arriving now at “Run Tonight,” his sixth single release since the album and the one that sees him completely engulfing himself in a wave of 80’s rock feels that keeps just enough country fusion to hold tightly to the balance of his signature sound.

The song, written by Jordan and Jarrett Hartness, leans into an airiness to present an irresistible tone as that of a newly discovered track from the 80’s as the softness of its melody allows Matt to pull from the raw edge of his naturally country vocal to grip the listener with a throwback sound chalk full of refreshing honesty.

With a familiarity of the Matt Jordan theme of running away together like we’ve recently heard on “Steal Away The Night,” he expertly uses visuals through his lyrics to wax nostalgic on the idea of recapturing the spark of youth through a destination nowhere drive with his better half that throws caution to the wind.

Reminiscing that he still has “that two-door rocket” and that she still has “that reckless in your eyes,” he sets the entire carefree idea into existence in effort to satisfy the itch when he asks, “what do you say we open up that engine,” shifting then into the chorus with the further prodding to hit the gas:

“Hey hey, hell fire out the back

With heaven in the headlights

Hey hey, wake up wild horses

Let ‘em run tonight”

Utilizing the second verse, he explains his desire for escaping the here and now mundane to slide into the excitement of youthful rebellion for just one night, confessing that he “needs to feel a little thunder,” “push that needle to the red,” etc.

Though the lyrics never resolve as to whether they take this head-clearing drive, that’s part of the genius of a song like this. Many of us arrive at moments in our adult lives where we’re simply going through the motions while reminiscing about our youthful days. However, too few of us ever try to really recapture the spirit we once had of living life to its fullest.

Matt Jordan expertly taps into that moment of dreaming about recapturing that youthful spirit with this window’s down anthem while daring you to crank it up – the volume and those pistons - and take that free-spirited drive that you so desperately need to take.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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